All's Fair in Love and War
by C.Peace
Summary: The Hunger Games are continued after years of peace and Adonis of District 2, that no longer raises Careers, is chosen to fight in the 99th annual Hunger Games. His chances are slim because the rest of the tributes dislike him due to the attention he pulls from the Capital people. He has to fight to protect many, but he also wants to protect his district partner. *Please review
1. Chapter 1

Part 1: The Reaping

Chapter 1

_BOOM, _goes the wall when I hit my head against it. I sit up and hit my head against the ceiling. "Ow!" I yell out. _That's what I get for sleeping on the top bunk. _I hear stirring from the bed beneath mine and I peak over to see if my best friend, Aries, has woken up. He moves a bit, but he doesn't wake. I look at the small clock and see it's 4:30 am. I jump down from the top bunk and punch Aries until he wakes up.

"What!? What do you want?!" he shouts.

"It's time to go," I say and he instantly gets up. I go to the bathroom, throw water on myself, and go back to change into one of my dad's leather jackets. I go to my dad's room to tell him that we're going out, but he's not there. He must be helping in the hospital today.

Aries and I run out the front door and go through our villiage, Stonehold. District 2 is made up of four villages, each based on four mountains. Stonehold is the poor village, Threshold is the merchant village, Stronghold is the rich village, and then there is Victor's Village. That's where all the victors of the Hunger Games goes to live. Each village is close to each other because they were built on the base of each mountain, maintaining quick travel through each village. The villages are large enough to wrap around the base of the mountains, and luckily for us, we live close to the fence.

We reach the gate surrounding the district and I hold up the electrified wire while we pass under it. The electricity doesn't really hurt me. I was shocked when I was a kid and I've never been the same. Aries runs ahead of me and grabs our weapons from a craved out tree stump. He hands me an axe, and he takes the bow and arrows for himself.

Traveling through the woods was something we did at least 3 times a week. In fact it was how I met Aries. I was out in the woods with my father, when we ran into one of his friends who was showing his son, Aries, how to hunt as well. My father was working two jobs so Aries' Dad helped him out by taking me hunting along with them. After two weeks, Aries and I started to become best friends. We went to the same school and were in the same age group, so we always knew what to talk about, never a dull moment. We took care of each other. We've saved each other on multiple occasions.

After two years, Aries' father allowed us to go on our own. One day while we were hunting, my father found us and told us bad news. The caverns, where mostly everyone works, had caved in. It killed 5 minors, including Aries' father.

The day of the memorial service, the Peacekeepers were going to take him to live in a community home. He was going to be kept under an oppresive watchful eye, but my father stood up and took him into our home and as part of our family. A lot of people think we're brothers. Mainly because we live in the same house, but also because we sort of look. We both have dark brown eyes and black hair. We're also about the same size.

While we walk through the forest, I spot a rabbit. I throw an axe and it lands in it's side. It catches the dead rabbit and pins it to a tree. An arrow flies above it and lands in a small bird. "Who's better?!" Aries laughs.

"Shut up," I laugh along with him.

After hours of hunting, we catch multiple birds, squirrels, and rabbits. We find our favorite spot, which is a cliff top over looking the valley. We relax for a while and talk about what we usually talk about. Girls. Right now there is only one girl on my mind, Hanna Librae, the Mayor's daughter. In my eyes she is virtually perfect. Her light brown hair, and her green eyes are a knockout. "But she's never going to notice me. The boy from Stonehold." I tell him.

"Well, why don't we go to her house today!?" Aries encourages.

"She won't be there, and even if she is, she won't answer." I reason with him. It's true, though. We do sometimes sell to her family, but it's usually one of her sisters, or even a maid to answer the door.

"So, we'll find a reason to go in," he gets up and drags me by my hand until I get up. His words slightly encourage me, and I actually start to believe in her appearence today. I start running along side him, and even get passed him. "Hurry it up, Adonis!" he yells even though he's right behind me.

We go under the gate and speed through the outskirts of the village. We finally come to a halt and slow down as we reach Stronghold. We walk through the neighborhood and all the houses are two floors. They're nice, but not as nice as the ones in Victor's Village. We finally come to the house at the end of the street which is Hanna's family home. Aries goes up to the door and knocks until the door opens. "Hello," Hanna says. _She actually did answer!_

"Um...hi," I stammer. Aries pushes me forward, and I accidently bump into her.

"Can I help you?" she flips her hair away from her face. I try to come up with something to say, but I'm to nervous to think of anything. That's when Aries intervines.

"Yeah, we came to drop these off," he reveals a handful of strawberries. _Where did he get those?_ He hands them to me, and I he nudges me for an extra boost.

"Yeah, here you go," I hand them to her.

"I love strawberries," she cheers. "Don't I know you?" I look back at Aries. "No, you. Your name is Adonis, right?" _She knows my name?_

"Yes, and you're Hanna," I start off and she confirms it.

"Adonis, I have to keep trading, you can stay here and talk with Hanna," Aries says and leaves.

"Do you want to come in? I can give you something in return for the strawberries." Hanna says as she ties her hair up.

"It's not neccesary,"

"I insist," she grabs me by my hand and pulls me in. She drags me in and sits me down on her couch while she goes to retrieve something. Her house is smaller than I thought. Everything is luxurized, no sign of hardships anywhere. There are picture of her family hung on the walls. One of her and her mother, just like the one at home. There is a picture of me with my mother when I was younger. My mother was a wonderful woman, always filled with joy, even during our darkest days. I was six years old, she caught an unknown disease. She was in pain for a year before she finally passed. Since we were poor we could only afford to make her comfortable in the hospital for her final days. I wasn't allowed to hug my mom while she was in quarentine, so I didn't really get to say goodbye that wasn't through a window. Even in those days I never saw her frown, she was always smiling. She would even sing to me from behind the glass.

"Sorry, I took so long," Hanna comes back wearing a different dress.

"That's a pretty dress," I'm stunned by how amazing she looks.

"Thanks, Adonis," she blushes. _I made her blush_, I laugh a bit on the inside. "Here you go." She hands me a tiny see through box filled with blue berries. "Those are really good," she says.

"I know. I've only tasted them once before. They're really sweet..." I think for a second. "Like you." She giggles and blushes. She takes my hand and guides me to the door. Her hand is soft, like the fabric of the velvet couch I was sitting on. "I guess I'll see you after the reaping?"

"Definately," she smiles. She slowly closes the door, and once it's closed completely, I cheer silently outside. I turn around and I run off smiling.

When I get out of Stronghold and back into Stone hold, the head Peacekeeper, Slash, stops me. "Why so happy, Adonis?"

"It's reaping day for the 99th annual Hunger Games!" I mock him. "Why wouldn't I be happy?"

"Real funny!" he gives a fake laugh. "What's in the bag?"

"Nothing."

"Stop lying. I'll give you a bottle of milk for a squirrel."

"Fine," I reach in my knapsack and find a squirrel. I hand it to him and he gives me the promised milk. I continue home, and I can see that not a lot of people are out yet. Most people fear the reaping, and they have every right too. Before the 76th Hunger Games, everyone embraced it, because all the kids of District 2 were trained to win. After the peace that the rebellion brought was done and the Capital took control, they no longer allowed Districts 1, and 2 to train their children, so our rate of winners started to diminish. District 2 has only had 3 winners since then.

I arrive to the small cottage and I find my father in his clothes for later, asleep. I put all the earnings in a small ice box that my father traded for a deer carcass, and I go to the shower. The shower is smaller than the closet in my room and only gives incredibly cold water. That's why I have an immunity to low tempuratures.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Once I finish dressing, Aries walks into the room, and rummages through the closet for his clothes. "Where have you been?" I ask him.

"I was with Ophelia," he laughs. Ophelia is one of his newest girlfriends. It's kind of weird, because she was also my girlfriend. My first and only girlfriend. Not a lot of the girls in my school notice me. Hopefully I could change that someday. I get a drink from the milk bottle and wait for two o'clock to come. That's when Aries, me, and everyone else ages 12-18 will wait to be reaped for this years Hunger Games.

I hear someone knock on the door, and I open it. I find our neighbor, Indiana in her white dress for the reaping. Her black hair is tied up with a pink ribbon, and she stands twirling her dress. "Hi, Adonis," she hesitates.

"Hey, Indiana. Did you want something?" I ask her.

"No, not really. I wanted to show you my dress."

"It's really pretty,"

"Thanks," she blushes. "You look really handsome."

"Thank you, Indiana." I say and she starts to giggle. I've known Indiana since we were young. Her mother and my father work at the hospital together. We sit down at the table and I give her a glass of milk.

"No, thank you, this is yours." she says and pushes it away from herself.

"It's okay, you can have some. It'll be one good thing out of today, don't you think." I say. She nods and takes a drink. In Stonehold, it is a very rare thing to give food away since it is scarce at times, but since today is the reaping, I can make an exception.

"What do you think of your chances today?" she asks looking down at her empty cup.

"They aren't the best, but I think they'll be good enough to get me to the next year." I say and Indiana looks at me with her big brown eyes. She moves a rebellious strand of her that falls out of place off of her face. Indiana is really cute, I'm not going to lie, but she would never go for a guy like me. "What about you, what do you think of your odds?"

"Same," she says. She unravels her hair, and begins to redo it. Indiana was always a little odd. Every time she reached a point of nervousness or embarrassment, she always did her hair. I'm a little different. I mainly try to avoid staying out of the public eye. My father and Aries say that I'm extremely self-conscious, but I don't think so.

In the middle of our conversation the echo of the gigantic bell all the way in the center of town in the Justice Building booms, marking one-thirty. The chime is haunting, to everyone. Mainly the parents. This marks the beginning of a possible end of their children. It's time for everyone to start gathering at the Square. My father comes out of his room, and so does Aries.

We start walking towards the center of town. Indiana looks scared but composed. We're the same age, but since we're boys and she's a girl we're separated into sections. We get to the attendance line where they prick our finger for our blood. They scan it and then send us off. I separate from Indiana, and I walk to the section for the 17-year-old boys. I sit down next to Aries. He doesn't look really nervous. He knows that out of everyone in District 2 there is a very small chance that he'll get chosen. It's different for me. I've taken many tesserae, I at least have 40 entries in there. I examine the scene around me and I see that everyone has the same expression of unpleasant anxiousness that I wear as well.

The streets surrounding the Justice Building filled with the families of the kids here. The final bell rings, marking the beginning of the Reaping. The stage fills with people who are important to this event. The mayor, the brand new District escort, and our mentor. The mayor takes the podium and starts to talk about the history of Panem. He tells us about the disasters that consumed the country that was here before it. He tells us about the first rebellion in Panem called the Dark Days which resulted in the Hunger Games. There was another rebellion, called the Mockingjay rebellion, about 39 years ago, and it apparently lasted a fifteen or more years after they defeated the Capital, but the Capital rose again and brought the Hunger Games back.

All the districts were forced to go back to normal routines. He announces the purpose of the Reaping, and what the Hunger Games consists of. Two kids, a boy and girl between the ages of 12 and 18 called tributes, from each district is sent to the Capital to be prepared for a live broadcast fight to the death in an arena that can be of any setting. The tributes are sent into the arena and there they fight until there is only one of 24 is left standing. It can last for however long it needs for the tribute to win. It usually last a week or two, but there is always a winner. The winner gets treated in riches, and it moved to a special place in their district called Victor's Village. The district that the winner came from gets large amounts of food to sustain them until the next Hunger Game.

Mayor Librae reads a list of past victors that District 2 has provided. We've only had about three victors since the rebellions end, and only two of them are still alive. One of the two is the mentor for this years she finishes, she introduces the district escort from the Capital, Marina Blue. She walks up in to the podium and just by looking at her you can tell she's from the Capital. She wears a hat designed to look like an overflowing water fountain. Her hair is blue and so is her dress, probably to represent the water. I can only think that she is in the wrong district, District 4 is a long way off.

"Hello, District 2. My name is Marina Blue and I am your new district escort. My first time as escort, and also a first for this years mentor, Destinique." Marina announces and Destinique bows. I remember her from when she won three years ago when she was only 13. She stands as the youngest winner in the history of the Hunger Games. She's only a year younger than me. "Let's get this ball rolling," Marina continues. "Ladies first! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

She reaches in a glass bowl holding the names of all the girls in District 2, and slowly circles around each slip of paper. She goes in further and mixes it. She finally chooses one. She pulls it and walks up to the microphone. "Martha Petra!"

I can see from the corner of my eye that the girls step aside, while the chosen tribute moves through them. They all separate in front of her like ripples of water formed by an incoming fish swimming by. I don't want to turn to look at her, but I'm going to see her anyways. She reaches the stage and stands next to Marina Blue. The girl has golden eyes that are wide open, and has red hair. She looks tiny, anyone from any other district could easily think that she was quick and agile.

Marina goes to the next bowl and reaches in. She slips, loses balance, and partly lands in the bowl. Even under her sky blue dyed skin and white makeup, you can see that she has turned red. She tries again and picks a name faster than she did for the girl's name. She opens it and looks at it. "In the spirit of the games, we are going to have our first competitor read the name of her partner!" Marina says and hands it to Martha.

Martha looks panicked as she receives the paper and she examines it. "Adonis Breach!"

_Did I hear her right? _Yes, I did. I stand up off the chair and I take in a deep breath. I look around and I see the eyes of many on me. I hear nothing. The silence has a frightening effect. It has consumed every breathing person in all of District 2. I walk into the open passage between the girls and the boys. _I guess it's my time._ Life has come to a complete hat, or at least slowed down. They say that in the moment before you die, you see your whole life flash by you. My life starts to pass me by.

I can see the moment I was born. The moment that I was pushed behind glass and kept from hugging my mother one last time. My first reaping. The first time my father took me out to hunt, where I met Aries and his father. The day Aries and I fought with a bear. We just shot it with arrows. We couldn't take it home, so we left it out for the animals to eat it. Then the day of the memorial services for Aries' father. Aries being taken into custody, and my father volunteering to take him. My first kiss with Ophelia when I was 14, and then to a few hours ago. Hearing Hanna laugh and say my name.

I walk down the aisle and I can see the stage getting closer. I can see Marina still lightening up from her embarrassment. Martha looking as sad as I probably do. Destinique straightening her dress. I look over to the side and I see Hanna and Indiana sitting in the same row. Hanna looks distraught, but not as much as Indiana. This was the last time I would ever see them. I look back to see Aries who stands with his jaw dropped. My father further back, pushing his way to the front of the crowd of parents. The Peacekeepers surround and start to take me to the stage.

"I volunteer!" I hear someone yell out. I turn quickly and I see Aries running down the aisle. Everyone looks confused. This was the first time anyone has volunteered in District 2 in decades. I catch a glimpse of the past Victors of District 2, all mainly from before the rebellion, and they all have a blood thirsty look in their eyes.

"I volunteer," he repeats and I stand eyes locked on his. _I will not allow this to happen!_

"I volunteer!" I yell out right after him, and everyone is even more intrigued. Especially the blood thirsty Victors


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What are you doing?!" Aries catches up to me.

"I'm not going to let you take my place, and die." I say. "I shall remain as tribute!"

"No, I volunteer!" Aries shouts and shoves me. I push him back, and in a matter of seconds we're in a full on fist fight. _Why won't he let me do this?!_ I think to myself. He's probably thinking the same. The Peacekeepers separate us, and Marina intervenes from the stage.

"I shall decide who will be our District tribute!" she shouts and composes herself. "Adonis, you were picked first, and you agreed to stay as tribute, so you are the male tribute of District 2!" she cheers and the Peacekeepers take me to the stage. I stand along side Martha and she looks at me. I look back, and she darts her eyes away from me. If I want to scare the other tributes, then I'm off to a good start. "A round of applause for our two tributes!" she says and a few people clap. Mainly the excited Victors, the ones reaching the ages of eighty and seventy. These were Careers. Tributes that originally volunteered for their Hunger Games and won due to their training that is no longer allowed in District 2.

The Peacekeepers take us into custody and to rooms in the Justice building where we will await to say our goodbyes to our visitors. The room is quiet and I sit down on the couch which is like the one in Hanna's house. The doors open and in walks in my father. He hugs me, and I hug him back. This was the first time I've made contact that wasn't a pat on the back since my mother's death. "It's going to be okay, Adonis." he says.

"I hope it will be," I say.

"No, it will be!" he grabs me by the shoulders. "You have to protect yourself now, you won't have me or Aries with you."

"But Dad,"

"No. You know how to hunt. You've killed things bigger than people, I believe in you."

"I'll try,"

"Stop with your insecurities! You have to believe in yourself as much as I believe in you. Now say it, 'I, Adonis, will win the 99th annual Hunger Games!'" he shouts. I can't form the words until he shouts it again.

"I, Adonis, will win the 99th annual Hunger Games."

"That's my boy," he says and the Peacekeepers finish our time together. They let in the next person who is Aries. He charges at me, and punches me across the face. I lose balance and fall back onto the floor.

"Why wouldn't you let me volunteer for you!?" He picks me up.

"I wasn't going to let you die for me!" He loosens his grip, and punches the wall. He cools down and finally speaks.

"I wasn't going to die."

"You don't know that. We would have the same chance of surviving." I say and he seems to understand a bit more. Our time is starting to run out and he pulls me in for a hug. A complete new thing for him. We say the final goodbye, and he wishes me luck. "Make sure you win."

"I will," I say as the Peacekeepers close the doors behind him. The room goes quiet. I'm alone. I look out the window, and I see that the clouds are still gray, just like this morning. The doors open and I turn around to see Indiana. She's crying. She rushes over to me and wraps her arms around me.

"Adonis," she whimpers. "I don't want you to go."

"It's okay, Indiana." I say and I hold her. Most of her time is wasted with her hugging me and crying. I wasn't going to cry. Not that I felt like it.

"You're going to try and win, right?" she asks.

"Of course." I pull her from my body and grab her by her shoulders. "But in case I don't win, you can't mourn me for long."

"But..."

"I've made up my mind, Indiana. When you see me die up on those screens cover your eyes and pretend like it never happened." She starts to cry more and the Peacekeepers come in and get her. "Take care!" I yell after her, and the doors slam shut. Silence just like at the reaping. All-consuming, and deafening. The door opens and the person who walks in is one I've never seen before. The women sits down on a chair opposite of the couch I sit down on.

"That was really brave of you to volunteer to keep your place." she says. I can't tell who she is because he mouth and her hair is shrouded in a shall. The only thing I can see is her defining brown eyes.

"Thank you, but do I know you?" I ask her.

"No, but you will in time." she answers looking at her nails.

"But I'm kind of going into an arena to fight to the death, why can't you tell me now."

"Though that is true, I have faith that you will return. You're the first volunteer from any District in over 20 years." she says.

"Just because I volunteered to remain the tribute for District 2 doesn't mean I'll win."

"True, but you have a spark in you, kid. I can see right through you and I can see the fire burning. It's something I haven't seen in a tribute since before the Mockingjay rebellion." She leans in and stares deep into my eyes. I remain quiet because I can't think of anything to say. "Here take this," she says and gives me a necklace. It's a small glass ball filled with sea green and purple sand hanging from a brass chain.

"What is it?"

"It's your brand new district token. Take care of it, and when the time comes you'll know what to do, or it'll do what it needs too."

"Times up!" the Peacekeepers walks in and is about to get her, but she turns to face him and he steps back with a frightened look on his face.

"I guess it's my time, isn't that right boys," she practically growls at him. "Good luck and congratulations, Adonis." She strides out of the room. _That was strange,_ I think to myself. I watch her as she leaves, and I wonder who she was. No idea. I guess I'll call her "The Lady in Faith" for now. She said that she saw a spark in me. I could believe that, after all I did fight with Adonis for the part of male tribute, that could have sparked interest in anyone.

The door opens slowly and in walks in Hanna. She walks up to me slowly, wordless. She sits down next to me on the couch, and stays quiet. I'm about to speak but she stops me. "I guess this is it?" she says without looking at me.

"For now, or at least until I come back." I say.

"Well, I guess right now is as good as any time to tell you I think you're really cute," she says. "but I guess our timing was really bad."

"It's never too late though," I say.

"What do you mean?" she turns to look at me. I put my hand on the back of her neck and pull her in for a kiss. She doesn't resist it, and I'm surprised I had enough courage to actually go for it. Our lips are locked, and the pains of today are gone. She holds me closer, and enforces the kiss more than I did, so I tried to match her. In this instant, she was mine and I was hers. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm competing in the Hunger Games, this kiss would be a lot more sweeter. Our lips finally unlock, and I'm back. The Peacekeepers come in and take her out of the room. Our visit is done. "Win, Adonis, win!" she yells out.

"I will!" I manage to say before the door closes. "Damn it!" I yell right after. I'm alone again. I still feel Hanna's lips on mine and I wish she really was here with me.

I get a couple more visits from some of my past customers. The Baker comes in and gives me a box of still steaming cookies. Mrs. Norma comes in and being the nice lady she is, she gives me a bag of cherries. Some of my favorite. She knows because I've traded many items with her for cherries. I get another visit from a friend from school, and then the Peacekeepers finally come to take me to the train.

We're walked into the train station that is right next to the Justice Building, and lining the entrance to the train are Capital reporters. They yell out questions and take pictures of Martha and I. She looks scared and she grabs on to my shirt. I put my arm around her shoulder and bring her along with me. When she starts to cry, we're already in the safety of the train. I look out the window and I see some of the people of the district looking in. "Goodbye, Life," I utter my last words in District 2, ever.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The train is large and very luxurious. More than Hanna's house. Marina takes me to my room, and she tells me to get ready for dinner in an hour. I walk further into the room and examine everything. There are dresser drawers filled with fine clothes, and there's a bathroom that looks really Capital-like. I guess I should start by washing away any dirt that had rested on me during the reaping. I wrestle with the shower for a while until I eventually get it to normal warm water. Well, sort of normal, it still smells of roses.

The rush of warm water practically wraps around me, and it is a major change from the below freezing temperatures of my shower. I melt into the warmth, and when I look down, I see that a lot of dirt found itself resting on me, because the floor is dirt brown.

When I get out, I see that a cotton robe is waiting for me on a hook outside of the shower. I wrap it around me, and it starts to hum. It instantly warms up and it's so blissful. "Amazing" I dreamily say to myself.

I go through the closet and I pull out anything I find mildly attractive. I see my favorite color, red. I pull it out to and rub the red shirt's soft texture between my fingers. I go through the pants and find jeans that adjust to my size in a matter of seconds after pulling them over myself. I ly down on the bed and I sink into the warm cushiony cotton sheets. I ly down and I close my eyes for a second. I can see Hanna lying down right next to me. We kiss and I keep kissing her until I get woken up by a knock on the door. "Dinner time!" Marina says from behind the door.

When I get to the dining room, I see Martha sitting at the table in a different dress. I guess she had the same idea as I. She glances up at me and then continues eating. I look around and I sit down at the big wooden table. Marina sits down at one end of the table and the other is empty. I'm guessing it's Destinique's. I grab a dish and start to fill it with the stomach filling spread on the table. I fill it with potatoes, steamed vegetables, sliced ham, and meats that taste like they were roasted in pineapple. That's the only distinct flavor I can remember. I've only had pineapple once and it was because it was the only thing Mrs. Norma had to trade many years ago.

After stuffing myself with rich soups and cream-covered pie, Destinique finally arrives. Her big light brown eyes are wide open. She looks flushed of color, it was as if she saw a ghost, but she didn't look scared. She was smiling, and laughing. Her blood-red dress shines in the florescent lights. I look at her arm, and I see a drop of blood. Her own blood. I examine her face, and I can tell that she is no longer with us. She's in paradise now. Or in a haze that morphling can give a person. She was definitely under the influence of the loving, warm light of what's called Morphling.

It's strange that I know this, but I have my experience with Morphling users. My father use to take some from the hospital and take his own trips to paradise after mom had passed. It took a year for him to kick the stuff, but in that year, he was rarely there for me. He would just sit there. Propped up against the wall. Silent. He wouldn't smile like Destinique is right now, he was blank. Sometimes I would find him and be scared that he left me, just like mom did.

Destinique takes a look at her food, and pushes it away. People under the influence of morphling tend not to eat. It just becomes tasteless and crude.

I move to the sitting room, where there is a television. Martha sits curled up in a ball next to me. I decide that if I'm to spend the next week with her that I might as well get to know her. "I'm Adonis," I turn to her.

"Martha," she looks at me. "Are you that boy who goes out of the district?" She whispers and looks around to see if Destinique or Marina are around. _She knows of my hunting?_

"Yes," I smile. "That is me, why do I trade with your family?"

"Yes, my mother is the apothecary in Stonehold." Now that I think about it she does look a bit like her mom. Martha's red hair, and her golden eyes. We talk for a while longer when Marina and Destinique come into the room. They sit on the couch opposite of us, and they look at us. "Can we help you with something?"

Marina looks at Destinique, who is back from paradise, and then speaks. "Well, you can tell us about yourselves."

Martha and I exchange looks and we decide I'll go first. "My name is Adonis Breach, and I'm the male tribute of District 2 for the 99th annual Hunger Games. I'm probably going to die at the initial bloodbath near the cornucopia. My bet is a spear to the throat." I say and Martha giggles.

"How...nice?" Marina looks at Destinique.

"And if you don't stop acting like a smartass, I'll let that happen." Destinique grins.

"What are you going to do about it if he doesn't?" Martha intervenes.

"We'll I've won this game before, so I'm one of the only reasons you'll live."

"The only reason you won is because the boy from District 10 forgot that boomerangs always come back." I say and Destinique gives me a death stare. She stands up and walks over to a mini bar. She serves herself a drink.

"Aren't you a little young to drink?" Marina says like as if the sight of Destinique drinking ruffled her feathers.

"Aren't you a little too professional to mess up the reaping ceremony?" Destinque strikes back.

Marina turns red and then says, "Get me one, too."

"Yeah, me, too!" I laugh. Destinique throws a knife. I catch it from the handle and place it down on the table. "I'll take that as a no?" Everyone in the room goes quiet. They look around at each other, surprised.

"So is this what you're good at? Knife throwing?" Destinique brings over four small glasses and fills them.

"I'm a bit more accurate than the average person, yes?"

"This is good, we can use this. Martha, what about you!?" Destinique drinks straight out of the bottle even when she has a filled glass in front of her.

"I can throw a javelin!" Martha answers excitedly. By this point everyone is excited, especially Marina. She keeps cheering something about not being a failure her first year.

A rerun of today's reaping begins and we all gather around the television. In District 1, the boy is a bit smaller than me, and the girl tries to fight her way out of the square. District 5 provides a partially blind girl that bumps into the stage while walking up. District's 10 and 11 offer male tributes that look like they can carry a cow, which is what they do in District 10. 12 gives two tributes that look sly, cunning, quick, and agile. Probably from hunting outside their district. District 12 is notorious for quick tributes, but no one knows how they get so quick.

After the program ends, we are taken back to our compartments. In my compartment, I see that the whole place has been cleaned out. None of my clothes is here anymore. The only thing that remains is the necklace that the Lady in Faith gave to me. I give up searching for the clothes before I even start, so I just get undressed and go to sleep.

When I can't sleep, I get up and sit next to the window. It's beautifully dark outside, but the darkness only shrouds my fears. Not only is the fear inside me, but it's outside, looming not to far from me in a place called the Capital.

I see that we pass a lake, and it reminds me of the area back home. I stare out the window until I see my own reflection. The reflection of the boy from District 2 that no girl would ever want. Except for Hanna, but does she really like me or kiss me out of sympathy. I close my eyes and envision the kiss between Hanna and I. Her lips, her smooth hair, her hazel eyes. Her arms wrapped around me and my hands on her back slowly traveling further south. Just thinking about her got me started, _but was this feeling love or lust._ I've barely known her long enough to be in love with her. Don't get me wrong, I want her. In more ways than I, myself, could imagine. _But was I choosing Hanna due to her looks, just like everyone has done to me, but the opposite way. They didn't choose me because of my looks._

I look through the window again, and I finally see my destination. It peeked over the mountain tops like a the sun. It's lights were just as bright all together. The buildings all illuminate like fire flies in the distant forestry. Not only were the lights beautiful, but also haunting. No matter how fun this all looked, these people were still sending me to death, and that isn't very nice.

I crawl to the head of my bed and tuck myself in under the sheets. I curl up and close my eyes. Hopefully, the dreams could catch me and keep me in paradise forever. Just like permanent morphling injection would do. But the odds haven't been exactly in my favor today, so the chances of finally escaping reality is very slim.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

After getting a couple hours of sleep, I wake up to the sound of people cheering. I look out the window and see that a lot of Capital people are standing outside. I smile and wave, and when I see a group of women swoon, I realize my shirt is still off. _Now, they've seen how ugly I am. They'll never sponsor me!_ "Adonis! Adonis, we love you!" some of them cheer. It makes me feel confused. They've seen my body, but their not disgusted.

I get dressed in yesterdays clothes and rush to the dining cart. I find Marina and Destinique eating. I sit down with them, and before long, Martha joins us. Today's breakfast is like yesterday's dinner. Amazingly adorned and delicious. My stomach dropped dead by looking at it. Some of the hard-boiled eggs were open and cut to look like little tiny roses, which I still reek of since yesterday's bath.

"As soon as all the trains arrive, you will be taken to the Stylist's Headquarters where you will be prepped for tonight's tribute parade," Marina explains. "But for now enjoy the luxuries of the train.

I ly in wait in the sitting room, eating some of the cherries Mrs. Norma gave me. I hand some to Martha, and she indulges in them. It seems as if she'd never tasted one before.

We play around by trying to throw the cherries in each other's mouth from across the room. "Hey, did you know that if you can tie a cherry stem with your tongue, then you're a good kisser," Martha giggles.

"Yes, I'm aware of that, I've never tried it though," I say.

"It's easy look," she throws the stem in her mouth and then in a matter of second spits out a cherry knot.

"That's really cool, how did you do that?"

"It's just common sense. You just have to...well, I can't really explain it." we both laugh, and she tells me to try, and I do. I only end up choking on the stem. It was worth thee laughs though. We watch the television and it shows highlights of last year's winner, Lacey Turner of District 6. Lacey wasn't one to notice, she didn't kill anyone, well with her bare hands, neither with weapons. She used her brain. Her arena was a complete desert. She was able to hide herself in the sand, completely camouflaged. When a tribute would pass by she'd throw a net over them, and let the next traveling tribute do the dirty work for her, and then repeat it on them.

A gigantic whistle blows. This must mean all the trains are in the station. Now it's time to be prepared for tonight.

In the Stylist's Headquarters, I'm worked on by three Capital women. Verona, a small women with flaring green eyes. Every time she blinked it seemed like the color would return. Mantua, a slender women with surgically implanted feather hair piece that showed off every color of the spectrum. Then there is Rosaline. Her hair is a bright red and pink, it's styled to look like a rose. Her neck even has tiny little pricks that are supposed to represent the thorns.

They scrape, shave, and apply creams, until I'm rid of most body hair. They douse my hair in water, and then dry it off with a machine. They make sure to leave my hair fluffy and warm for my head stylist to work on. They talk highly of him when I ask them about him. "He's worked with every district, just because he can!" praises Mantua.

"He's a miracle worker of fabrics," Verona says.

"It's true, even a girl from District 8, who had worked for years as a seamstress, agreed." shrills Rosaline.

After hours of prepping, I'm finally done. They put a robe over my bare body and leave in a cloud of chatter. I'm supposed to wait for head stylist, but he takes his sweet time.

I look around the room and it's basically empty. It's gray steel walls and tables only radiate the cold of the air conditioners above, and this isn't a very pleasant feeling when you're wearing nothing but a thin smock.

The door slides open and in walks in a small man. He's chubby, but it's not like an ugly chubby, it's well balanced. He's wearing a gray suit and around his wrist is a watch made of white stone. "Hello, my name is Rivers," he says, owning every word.

"I'm Adonis," I say. I shake his hand and he notices that I'm looking at his watch.

"It's imitation ivory. It's supposed to look like it was carved out of elephant tusk, but I don't like mistreating animals." he says admiring his watch._ Irony. He doesn't want to hurt animals but he doesn't mind getting me dolled up to send me into a fight to the death._ "Let's get started!"

He tells me to put on the costume he has planned. He says that it's roman gladiator apparel. I put it on, but Rivers is the one who secures it, and makes sure it looks good. When I have almost everything, I reach for the golden chest plate, but he stops me. "I had something planned, but I wasn't sure how my tribute would look like. But you...you're perfect for what I've planned." Rivers looks cheerful and he grabs the gold chest plate and locks it away.

"I think I'm going to need that," I say nervously.

"No. You see my plan was to show you off as much as we can, and like I said you're perfect. So we shall not be covering your body." He says and I feel nervous now. I can't even walk around without a shirt at home, let alone in front of all Panem.

"Um, Rivers," I start. "I know that you ave this planned and all, but I really don't like to be too exposed. What if people laugh at my ugliness?"

"You're kidding me right? Ugliness?" he sighs. "If I visit District 2 and everyone else is better looking than you, then I will live there forever. But Adonis, you're not ugly. You can't be so insecure. Part of winning these games is being brave, and knowing what you can and can't do. You're one of the best looking kids I've seen come out of District 2 in all my years of being a stylist, and I've been around a long time." He says.

_I'm perfect for the costume_, I keep telling myself so I could get used to the idea. He combs my hair to the side in a sleek fashion. He puts the head gear on my head. The head gear is just a wreath of golden leaves. He says that I'm almost ready, but that he has to finish the rest of the work on the chariot before it leaves for the City Circle.

He brings me along and in the stables before the release, I look around to see the other tributes. District 4 is supposed to be dressed up like fish, District 10 are dressed up like cowboys, and the most ridiculous costume I see comes from District 9. They're dressed up like bread. "This might be a little bit heavy," Rivers warns me. I feel an immense pressure on my back, and then I turn my head to look at it. It's a pair of golden wing. I look over to Martha and see that she doesn't have any. Her stylist, Geisha, is too busy doing Martha's hair.

"Remember don't get nervous," Rivers reminds me. Hearing the word nervous made my arms wrap around myself and cover myself. He grabs my hand and smacks it. "You can't do that. Don't you want any sponsors?"

"Yes, but..."

"Then don't do that." he scolds me. I look around at all the other tributes and I envy them. They're all fully clothed.

"When the both of you get announced and the spotlight hits you, make sure to hold your hands up high like this," Geisha says and demonstrates with Rivers. "That way everyone will see you, and Adonis," I look up at her. "Don't get scared, whatever happens is on purpose."

"What?!" I ask wondering what she's talking about.

"Trust me, just go with the flow, and you'll know what I'm talking about when it happens." Geisha finishes and both stylists step off the chariot.

"Also, be overly confident," Rivers says as the horse starts to take it's place for the announcements. I look at Martha, and she's more clothed than me. Her red hair is tied up around her head and has gems tied into it.

"You ready?" Martha asks breathing out her nervousness.

"I hope so," I mutter under the loud voice of the announcer. He announces District 1 and they roll out. He calls out District 2, and then the horse starts it's gallop. We start to roll out and this is our cue to hold hands. I grab her hand and raise it high enough for everyone to see. People cheer and whistle, some even throw flowers.

While our arms are raised I can hear a low hum from behind me. _The wings. _The golden wings are making noise. I look back and see that it's glowing. It's rays of light spread across the whole chariot illuminating both of us, making us the gem in everyone's eyes. Then I start to feel movement. I look back again and see that the wings are moving. Their flapping but they don't lift me up. We're illuminating the games with the golden angel of District 2.


	6. Chapter 6

It's amazing. I'm glowing. I do the second order from the stylist. Get the crowd excited. I start hollering and getting the crowd to get excited. Martha does the same, and it works, but I wonder why we have to be stupidly excited for this. I better get an explanation.

All the chariots finally pull up at the City Circle in front of President Scar's mansion. The man with jet black hair steps out in front of everyone in the Capital and applauds us, the tributes, for our courage. President Scar is one of the least altered people I've seen in the Capital so far. He's young, maybe in his early thirties. The only thing about him that is altered is his eyes, which are a piercing glowing green.

Usually during the speech, cameras zoom in on the tributes, but when I look up at the monitors, I see that my wings are still glowing and that I'm getting a lot of attention. River's plan was successful, I'm the most prized tribute here. After the speech is done, we're paraded around one more time, and once again I'm glowing and flapping. We are pulled into the Training Building and now we're in the custody of the Capital.

When we stop, our prep teams swarm us and start to remove the costumes. I look around and I see that some of the girls are staring right at me, but not like the boys. The boys hate me now. Destinique comes up to us and commends us for the performance. Behind her I can see the boy of District 10 giving me a death stare. Marina hands me my clothes and tells me to get dressed, but I have a different idea. "You know I think I'll just go like this." I say. Rivers looks at me strangely and he takes me to the elevator. When we step in we're joined by the tributes of District 6 and 7. The girls don't stare at me directly, because I'm half-naked, so I give them a reason.

I put my hands on both their shoulders and say, "Hey, can one of you press the button that says 2, thanks." Both of the girls rush for it, and the girl from District 7 gets it. The doors open and Rivers and I walk out.

"I'm Marley!" the girl from District 7 yells out.

"And I'm tired," I say when the door closes on her. Rivers starts to laugh hysterically. It was as if he couldn't breathe. He must have thought that the act was funny. Now that I think about it, it is kind of funny. I get dressed in the clothes Rivers brought with him, and we wait for the rest of the entourage to join us.

At dinner, we all celebrate today's success. Everyone praises me for my début. Destinique says that a lot of the other Mentors were a bit mad that I got more attention than their tributes. "Not one of my friends was quiet about what a handsome boy you were!" Marina squeals in excitement. "They said that I'm doing a good job so far as well!"

The whole time everyone praised me, but Martha was left to her thoughts. No one said anything to her. "Martha did amazing, too, right?" I ask them.

"Of course she did, it wouldn't have been as good without her. She was exactly what we needed." Destinique starts. Martha starts to smile as she plays with the food on her plate.

"Oh my, when she blew those kisses to the crowd! They almost died!" Geisha follows. The whole dinner went on like this.

Marina takes me to my room, and tells me the same thing as she did on the train. I have an hour to prepare before the reruns of the Tribute Parade, so I should just get a costumed. I take a tour of the room, and I see that it is better than the train compartment. The bathroom has knobs that are labeled so I don't have to always smell like roses, it has a mat that dries you off completely just by stepping on it, and it has a voice controled closet. Maybe I should break them in.

In the shower, I turn the knob that says ocean spray. The whole bathroom was probably filled with attractive scent of a beautiful beach. Not that I've ever seen one, I just imagine this is what it smells like. Pineapples and other tropical fruits. I step on the mat and I'm completely dry within a minute. The closet gives me options and I tell it casual. It scans me, and then gives me an arrangement of clothes that would make me look good. I grab a black shirt and normal jeans when I step out to go to the television room.

I see that Martha is wearing a normal dress. Not a long fancy one, but one that could be used on an everyday basis. I sit down next to her, and they seem to be passing highlights of another past Hunger Game. This one is from seven years ago, in the ruins of a city arena. Most of the competitors that they show have something to do with this years games. For example, they showed Lacey Turner because she had a disability like the girl from District 5. Now they're showing this kid because he was also a hot commodity like I am.

After a while most of the group started to join us. The prep teams, the stylists, Destinique, and Marina. They show the Tribute Parade along with the voice over of our host, Rupalia Odenshot, and her co-worker, Flynt Ballyntyne. "Well, Flynt, we're in for a treat this year. Here comes District 1," Rupalia says.

"Yes, very royal!" Flynt comments on their king and queen costumes.

"Oh my," Rupalia stops. "Look at District 2!" The screen fills with a shot of Martha and I holding hands and how we both glowed. My expression seems to say courageous, but I feel like I could've done better. Martha is absolutely glowing. She's smiling and cheering, and she does well with the ambition bit. The whole program is littered with shouts of the both of us, not that it's just us, but it's mainly us. We stole this show. At the end, Destinique rises and says she has an announcement to make. "I have found you two an alliance."

"What?" I ask. "With who?"

"Well, I have a plan so that all the tributes will fear you two even more. You are going in disguise as Careers." she says excited. Careers are tributes that are trained to volunteer in the Hunger Games since they're young, but they no longer exist because of the last rebellion. "You and District 1 will be teaming up to scare the tributes of other districts during trainings. They will be up in a moment to introduce themselves." as she finishes talking I hear the elevator door open. They walk in and they both look nervous.

"Mint, nice to see you again," Destinique hugs their mentor. "These are my kids. Introduce yourselves." She tells us.

"I'm Adonis Breach," I say and the boy nods. The girl looks me up and down and she looks hungry, not in a killer way, but in a state of attraction.

"I'm Martha Petra." Martha introduces herself. This time the boy relaxes and the girl is the one who tightens her gaze. Their mentor tells them to do the same. The girl says her name is Glamour, and she walks up to me. I expect to give a hand shake, but she goes for the kiss on the cheek. She grabs me by the cheeks and pulls me close to her light brown hair, so she could kiss me. She just shakes Martha's hand.

"I'm Red," the boy introduce himself. He kind of reminds me of Aries, but Red is smaller and has blonde hair. He shakes both our hands and then returns to the side of his mentor.

"Well, all four of you get to know each other, Destinique and I will be in the dining room."

We do as instructed. I talk to Red for a while. It turns out that he has some athletic training that could help us get to the final four. He says that he won some wrestling matches back in District 1. We actually have a lot in common, except people actually like him, and he has girlfriends, so he's more like Aries. In the middle of my conversation with Red, Glamour pulls me from him and takes me to the opposite couch.

"Hey, I know this might be quick and all, but I think you're really cute," she says.

"Thanks, and you look really good, too," I tell her, and she giggles. She notices the bag of cherries on the table and quickly snatches them up.

"Did you know that you can tell that you're a good kisser if you can tie a cherry stem into a knot."

"Yeah, Martha told me that, and then proved it," I say and Martha turns to look at me. "I was just telling her that you told me about the cherry stems."

"Oh, how wonderful," Glamour says in slight discuss. She throws a stem in her mouth and it takes her longer than Martha did. "Can you do it?"

"I tried but failed miserably!" I laugh and Glamour gives me a weird look.

"Well, there's more ways than one to find out if you're a good kisser," she grabs me by the back of the neck and is about to kiss me.

"He has a girlfriend!" Martha stops Glamour by putting her hand in between us.

"Really," Glamour seems disappointed but still stares daggers at Martha.

"Yes, really, and I'd appreciate it if you can leave him alone,"

"Oh, well, we should probably get going anyways."

"Yeah, we have a big day tomorrow, and we should get some sleep," Red says, and they both leave the room to get their Mentor. Martha sits down next to me and she seems a bit upset.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Perfect!"


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning is our first training day. At breakfast, Martha and I filled ourselves up with the delightful food waiting for us on the table. After a while, I hear stumbling and crashing noises from the one of the hallways. I look over and see that Destinique is feeling her way to the room. She finds a stable pace of walking and plops down on a chair at the table. She's smiling again. Not a normal smile, but a paradise smile. She's on morphling again. My only question is how does she get it here.

"Destinique?" Martha tries to talk to her. "Are you okay?"

"I'm perfectly fine, Chloe, how about you, are you okay?" Destinique answers back. _Chloe?_ I think about the name, it does sound familiar. She could be talking about the other district victor, the one who is dead.

"It's Martha, not Chloe,"

"Oh, hello," Destinique starts but stops. Her smile grows bigger and she closes her eyes. She has a sense of wanted peace. Martha shakes her by her shoulder, but she doesn't respond.

"She's gone now, Martha, leave her alone."

"She's dead!" Martha panics. "Wake up, Destinique!"

"No, she's in paradise now. She's drugged completely on morphling. She won't wake up from her daze until later."

"Morphling?! How does she get it?!"

"I don't know, but judging on the look on her face she is having a fun time. Almost makes me want to take a hit!" I laugh. Destinique is gone, it almost takes me back to my dad's haze. Back when my brother...I mean, back when I tried to help him through it.

When training was about to begin, Marina took us down to the training floor. We go into the large room with various obstacle courses, ranging from rock climbing to a gigantic swimming pool. We stand in line with the other tributes.

The head trainers tell us all the rules. There is no practicing combative skills with other tributes, we'll have assistant trainers help us. We are free to move around stations unless instructed by our mentors. Too bad mine is brain-dead now.

They finally release us and we all head off. Glamour grabs me by the arm and walks me to the knife throwing station while Red and Martha walk off by themselves. The knives land in the target hard. Glamour is really good at it. I look across the large gymnasium and I see spears flying through the room and landing in the fake rubber bodies. Martha really was talented at that. I can see that some of the other tributes were watching us all of us, especially Red, who is fighting with an assistant and throwing him across the mat. Some of the tributes are waiting for me to show off what I have, but I'm not sure where to start.

I start by doing simple survival stuff. I scale the rock cliffs, and I train in the poisonous plant identification station. The boy from District 10, Wrath, has shown his interest in watching me. He knows not to underestimate a "Career".

I finally decide to try something deadly. I go to the archery station, and get the arrow in position. I fire it, and it misses the target completely. I keep trying, but it's obvious archery is not my thing. Aries is the one who's really good at it. I look over at the next person over and I see the arrow land in the bull's-eye in every target. I see that it's the girl from District 5. The blind girl. "You're really good at that?" I say.

"It only takes one eye to get the arrow in place," she says. She turns to me and I see that her eyes are discolored. One eye is green and the other is pale white. "I'm Roxanne, but everyone calls me Roxy."

"I'm Adonis."

"Nice to meet you, Adonis," she says and she fires another arrow straight into the middle of the target. We talk more, and she turns out to be really nice. She's 14-years-old. We end up going to a couple more stations together until I separate to go to the track.

They set up a mile-long track so we can at least keep our running in top shape. All the tributes in this station get ready, and when the assistant fires the starting gun, we all charge. I start off slow, so I can show tem I'm no threat, but then I remembered the plan. I start to speed up, and slowly I pass by all of them like an eagle flying over its prey. When I cross the finish line, the boy from District 12 finishes in second. "Wow, you're...really fast," he says panting.

"Thanks," I breathe heavily, "You're no snail yourself."

"Thanks...I'm Cole," he regains his breath.

"Cole from District 12? That's really clever!" We both laugh. "I'm Adonis." I talk to him more, and I can see that he really wanted to train. He keep trying so hard that he pushed himself almost to exhaustion. I come to a halt when I walk from the knot-tying station and end up in front of the pool. Visions of splashing and gargling dirty water come to my head. I start breathing heavily when I open my eyes, and see the water stretch forward over me. I get pulled aside and I see that it was Martha.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

"Yes, I'm fine." I tell her and I continue walking to a different station. Water scares me, ever since I was young. I don't know how to swim. If I ever go to the lake, I only sit down on the shore of it, and let the water only reach up to my knees.

At the end of the training day, Martha and I reunite and go back up to our floor. In the elevator I could still see the lingering eyes of the other female tributes. I could use this to my advantage. It's really weird to me that even though only one of us is coming out of this alive, these girls still check me out as if they were going to see me their whole lives. When we arrive to our floor, I blow them one kiss and they all stand still in amazement.

I go to my room, and get ready for dinner, the best part of the day. I take a shower to wash off all the sweat of todays exercise. Then getting dressed with anything that catches my eyes, and then fluttering down the hallway to the dining room where the royal dinner awaits me.

I sit down at the table and see the group here. We all feast on the delicacies and then rest after. Destinique is no longer in paradise, but she isn't completely sober. I can see the bead of blood on her forearm where she probably injected the Morphling. At least she's eating. Martha and Geisha are having an interesting conversation on lace, and Rivers joins in on it. Marina seems to pay attention, but she doesn't contribute. Destinique starts to babble a couple of words, I can't really hear them but I hear the name "Norman" repeatedly. She's probably talking about her District partner from three years ago.

I move myself to the television room, and ly down on the couch so I can settle in. I turn the television on and a program is about to start. Slowly everyone starts to join me in the room. Rivers and Geisha sit each other down on one couch, Martha right next to me, and Marina stayed standing. Destinique stayed attentive to the television on one of the big couches.

"Well, this year seems as if it's going to be an intresting one, Rupalia," Flynt Ballyntyne says.

"Yes, quite amazing. In fact there is something special about one of our favorite tribute's this year." Rupalia says as if it were a really big secret.

"What would that be, and about who!?" Flynt's excited.

"Adonis of District 2 has Victor's blood in his veins!" _Oh no!_

"Really, who is he related to?!"

"District 2's winner of the 89th annual hunger games, X Canon, is his brother!" _I think I'm about to be sick!_

"Really, you mean that the..." I turn off the television, cutting off Flynt from finishing his sentence. Everyone's eyes are on me. Especially Destinique who looks scared. The room is quiet until Martha finally says something.

"X Canon is your brother!?"

"I don't want to talk about it," I say quietly.

"Why not?" Martha says.

"Because I don't!" I shout. Everyone is still quiet. They all look at me, when I finally get up and leave for my room.

I can't believe that they would show that! My god! X canon! That's seriously what he goes by now. I hate him. The fact that he's still breathing surprises me. My brother cut off all ties to us after he had won his games, and I never wanted to see him, not for what he did to our family, and especially not for what he did to me.


	8. Chapter 8

RRRAAAA,

I grunt as I pierce the rubber bodies with a sword. I finally found something I'm good at. Swordplay. I can hear the roar echo in the large gymnasium. I'm still angry over yesterday's event, so I guess that's why my grunt is so loud today.

I can see that a lot of the other tributes are scared of my roar. Even one of the assistants flinch. But I'm not sure of it's because of me, or my relation to one of the most brutalist killers on the history of the games. He was a monster when it came to an axe.

I passed by the pool, and I felt a major rush of anger come to me. I'm going in! I get undressed down to my underwear, and slowly step into the pool. Extremely cautiously. I went in and I heard a splash next to me. I look over and see two people next to me. The tributes of District 4. "Hi there," the boy says. "Do you need some help or something?" I realize I'm still gripped onto the edge of the pool.

"No, I'm fine," I say. They both give me looks that convey that they don't believe me. "Yes, I do. This is my first time trying to learn how to swim."

"Well, we can help you," the girl says. "By the way, I'm Crystal and that's Gammic."

"I'm Adonis," I say and they both take one my hands. Crystal is a girl that is about my height, with blonde hair, and gray eyes. Gammic was my height, and he looks as if he spent his life in the water. Especially how he was teaching me, he seems to know every aspect of swimming. He said that as soon as I'm able to learn how to swim that I'll know how good it feels. As if I were flying at ground level. Crystal was a bit more graceful when it came to the water. She's a slow swimmer which made her hair flow behind her, and it made her look like some kind of mermaid. She's really beautiful.

I start to swim by myself. Slowly but at least it's a start. I start to match Crystal and I swim beside her, when she speeds up out of nowhere and reaches the end of the long pool. I start to do what Gammic taught me and eventually swim to her. I try to stand but I slip and fall under the surface of the water. I resurface to see Gammic and Crystal laughing. "Thanks, you two," I laugh along with them. The bell rings, marking the end of today's training. Tomorrow is the last day of training and also the day of our presentation in front of the Gamemakers.

I walk with Gammic and Crystal to the elevator. Then I started thinking, why would they help me learn how to swim? Should I ask? I guess now is a better time then never. "So, Gammic, Crystal, why did you guys help me learn how to swim?"

They both exchange looks and then look at me. "Well, we thought that if we did you a favor..." Gammic starts.

"Then you would do us a favor by letting us join your Career alliance." Crystal finishes for him. I thought about it and I remembered about my Career status. I was supposed to be one. Then I thought about letting them join Martha, Glamour, Red, and I.

"Well, I'd have to ask the others, but for helping me learn how to swim, I'll put in a good word for you." I wink at them and they smile at each other. I don't understand why they would need us for an alliance, they look capable.

Once in the elevator, I realize that I'm dripping wet. I find another oppurtunity to manipulate half of the girl tributes. I take off most of the wet clothes an hold them. I make sure I make my way to the front of the elevator and get everyone's eyes. I press the button marked 2 and I look back to see all the girl's eyes dart away. I give a thumbs up to Wrath, who stands in the back, and he sharpens his gaze of disgust.

Later at dinner, Destinique is drugged up again. Martha and I had talked about this. We need to get Destinique to stop. Not only is she harming herself, but she could get us killed in the process. We eat and she eats to, but she keeps mumbling to herself. Marina isn't at dinner today for some reason, so it just leaves Martha, Destinique, and I. Destinique lys back on her chair and she's about to close her eyes, and slip away. _I'm not going to let this happen. _I stab a knife into the table, and she wakes up. She's back, and she's going to stay here until we're done with her.

"You need to stop with the morphling, Destinique." Martha says from across the table.

"I'm fine, Chloe," she says.

"I'm not Chloe, I'm Martha. The girl you're supposed to keep alive while she goes into the arena. That's Adonis, and it's your job to protect him too!" Destinique looks around, and I can tell that she's stuck in the haze of the morphling right now. This is when I could get through to my dad when he was doing it. It was my brother to get him through it, though.

I get up from my chair and walk over to her. I kneel down in front of her and grab her by the shoulders. She squints and I can tell that she's trying to make out who it is. "My name is Adonis! I'm the male tribute of the 99th annual Hunger Games! I'm to be mentored by Destinique Drake! It is her job to keep me from dying...just like Norman did..."

She finally opens her eyes wide. I can see that I just got through to her. She's still in her haze but at least she's more comprehensable. She looks me straight in the eyes, and she starts to breath heavily. Soon enough she starts to cry. "I'm sorry, Norman. I should've done more. I knew I should've done more to help you." _Destinique thinks I'm Norman._

"I can take care of it from here, Martha, you go to bed or something." I tell Martha and she leaves the table without questioning me. "Come on, Destinique, let's go on up to bed." I take her by her hand and she starts crying even more.

In her room, I ly her down on her bed and she starts to cry out regrets. "I should've stayed with you! You deserved better."

"It's okay, Destinique, I'm somewhere better now."

"But I..."

"Enough!" I shout at her and she quiets down. "You have to stop. You couldn't do anything for me, you were just a thirteen year old."

"I know, but I won the games, I could've helped."

"You couldn't have won if I didn't take that spear to my stomach for you!" I say recounting what I remember from her games. I know that it was down to the boy from District 10, Norman, and Destinique. The boy from 10 threw a spear at her, but Norman intercepted it and it penetrated his stomach. He yelled at her to run, and by taking the spear, Norman had extended the games by a day.

"But..."

"No 'but's. Now, you have to stop this morphling stuff, and you need to help those kids. How are you going to help them if you're always drugged up." she looks away and whimpers. "Goodnight, Destinique, and take care of yourself."

"I promise to stop," she says as I leave. Her big brown eyes are red and filled with tears. It was hard to believe that this was the thirteen year old girl, who cried all the way to the Capital. Somehow that girl had become my mentor, hence my only means of survival. I step close to the bed, and kiss her on the forehead as she closes her eyes and goes away to paradise. I let her have this last one. She deserved it.

I exit the room, and enter into the hallway. I see that it's completely empty, except for the Capital attendants that Marina calls Avoxes. I sit down on the couch, and since it's still early I decide to watch some tv to see what's on. I switch it on and I see that they are running something about my brother "X", as his new name is. He was a big deal in the Capital once he won. He was 17 when he won the 89th Hunger Games, and he was the first brutal player there was since the end of the Mockingjay Rebellion. He had the most kills within a week in the arena. He's also famous for one line before he killed one of the competitors. It was a 12 year old boy from District 9. Before slicing the boys head off, my brother recited, "You remind me of my younger brother."

After he had won, he abandoned all connections to our family, and he went off to live in Victor's Village all by himself. The program ends with a picture of mine next to his and Rupalia states, "Let's see if history repeats itself."

"So what did happen to your brother?" I hear from behind me. I turn around and see Martha standing there. "Let's not talk about it here."

Martha and I go up to the roof and we stand looking over the ledge. "Geisha told me that we could come up here if we wanted. So about your brother."

"He was a horrible person. Sort of the reason why I'm able to do some things though." I start. "If it wasn't for his brutality I wouldn't even know the first thing about hunting."


	9. Chapter 9

I remember when I was six years old, I was electrocuted. Something caused by my older brother. I was young and I was playing in some water. I forgot what my brother did, but I think he dropped something in there with me and it shocked me. Thus my immunity to electricity and fear of deep water. He wasn't the nicest to me so I sometimes had doubts that it was an accident.

He used to take me out to the woods with his friends, and use me as a pack mule. Once as a target, which would explain the long scar on my side. Anyways, he always tried to teach me how to fight at a very young age. I remember the last time this happened was a week before the reaping of his games. We were out in the forest with his friends who also trained with him. "Pick up the axe, Adonis," he yelled at me.

"I can't," I begged.

"Yes, you can!"

"No, I can't."

"Just leave him alone, he can't do it," his friend said.

"You're right, he can't even lift the thing." X looks me in the eyes and spits on the floor. "You're pathetic." I didn't know how he would hold me accountable for not being able to lift a heavy ax. I was only six.

"Then a week later he was reaped. Two weeks after that he won his games, and I never really saw him again." I finish telling the story to Martha.

"He really was ruthless," she says staring into the distance.

"Yes, a part of me hoped that he would be killed in the arena, I know it's a horrible thing, but I did. Then when he lived, I started going out into the forest by myself and I started to learn how to run through the forest. I taught myself to throw a knife, and even an axe. I wanted to impress him."

"Well, at least you know you don't have to impress him anymore. he won his games and he is out of your life, so you shouldn't really care." she says. We stay up on the roof for a while more before we leave. We go down to the floor and see that Red, Glamour, Mint, and Marina are there. They wanted to talk about our strategy since today is one of the only times we'll see each other until the games.

"I'll be flinging a mace," Red says leaning back.

"I'll throw knives," Glamour adds. We all know that Martha will be throwing spears, and they all look at me for confirmation of what I'll be doing. I look around and I think. _Axes._ No, people will be expecting that from the brother of an axe murderer, and I don't want that.

"Swordplay," I say and they all nod. "I also want to talk about something else." They all look at me, and it seems that they don't really care. "I want other people in our alliance."

"Who did you have in mind?" Mint says.

"The tributes from District 4," I say and it goes quiet. _Might as well,_ "And the girl from District 5."

"The blind girl," Glamour protest.

"She's really good at archery."

"No, she'll make us look bad!"

Before I fight, Mint cuts me off. "She's right, it could make us look weak by taking on someone that could possibly be useless."

"Useless? I'm sorry but I don't like the tone in your voice." I stand up.

"You have nothing to say, so sit down. We will not have the girl from 5 or the tributes of 4."

"Well..." I stagger, and I make a decision that could alter their chances in the games. "Then I won't be part of this alliance." Martha rises and she looks worried. She doesn't want me to leave her. Mint goes quiet, and so does Red and Glamour. They know that I have to much information on them to just leave the alliance. They can't allow it.

"Fine." Mint says. "Come on, kids. Martha, are you still with us?" I look at Martha and she looks at me. She holds the gaze, and I nod. Hopefully, she gets the message. I'm allowing her to stay with them. And hopefully they can keep her safe.

"Yes, I'll stay." Martha answers and Mint nods. He leaves with the Red and Glamour following behind.

"Why?" Martha says looking down at the table.

"I owe them something." I say and Martha stands up. She looks at me. Her eyes are tearing up.

"What do you owe them so badly that you have to leave me. I finally make a friend and he abandons me." she's slowly weeping now. I reach in to hug her, but she pushes my arms away and leaves to her room. _Her only friend?_ I feel bad now. I sit down and I rest my head on my hands. I start to think and think and by the time that I come back from my mental plain, it is already well into the night. I decide to go to bed, but not like usual. I walk down the hallway and reach the door that slides open for me. I ly down on the bed and I put m arm around Martha.

"You still awake?" I say. She stays quiet. I close my eyes so I could go to sleep and I hear weeping. She turns to face me, and in the light of the moon that seeps through the window I can see that shes crying. She curls up with me and she starts to cry louder.

"I'm sorry," I say. "You'll be safer with them. I guarantee it."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. And if I'm not, then it's your time to shine and win these games."

"Don't you get it, though," she looks into my eyes. "I can't win these games without you." I look deep into her eyes and slowly, our slow coming-together becomes a kiss. She nestles into my arms and we go to sleep. _Martha...I never would've thought._

The next morning, I wake up, and I see that I'm alone. I check the time and I see that it's around 8. I take a shower in my room, and get dressed. When I go back to the dining room. I see that Destinique is smiling and radiant. She isn't under the influence of morphling, but she still looks a bit sick. Martha is sitting down at the table eating. I walk over to her and give her a hug. The Avoxes serve me, and I sit down. Destinique stands up and says that she needs to announce something. "Everyone, I have something to say."

We all look up to her at the end of the table. "I know I've been hard to tolerate With all the morphling I was doing. But I want to say that I'm done with that and that from now on I will be aiming to take care of you." Martha and I look at each other. I tell her about the break in the alliance. She's surprised at first but she gets over it. It seems as if she didn't want it in the first place. "Yeah, I don't really care much. It was Mint's idea in the first place. I think he just wanted the alliance so he could help his kids out, but it also worked in our advantage, too."

In training, I avoid talking with Martha, Red, and Glamour. Martha and I agreed to keep the connections cut off, but it's not like they'll die without me, they seem to have found a new team member. Wrath from District 10. The whole day, I practice with Roxy. She teaches me how to fire the arrow so I can get a decent shot, and after I teach her to throw an axe. I talk to her about an alliance, and she says she is willing to do it.

At the beginning of lunch, Roxie and I join Crystal and Gammic at there table. I tell them the news of the no longer Career pack, and they agree to stay with me and keep in an alliance. I talk to them, and I know that Roxy will go for the archery, and Gammic is diving for a trident. _Of course._ He's from District 4, their main industry is fishing meaning that he probably learned how to throw a trident from a young age. Crystal looks a bit conflicted when we ask her what she's going to do. She looks up as if in thought and then twitches her nose. She must be really unsure of it. As she thinks about it, they ask me what I was going to do. I haven't even thought about it myself. "Maybe...I'll do...swordplay." I say. I think about using an axe, but the Gamemakers would expect to see me, the brother of an axe murderer, with an axe. I want to make my own image.

First they call in Red, then Glamour, then Martha. I wonder what Glamour is doing. I know Red is strong, so he most likely might use something that involves close combat. Martha is really handy with a spear. But Glamour has me guessing. She wasn't completely amazing at throwing knives, but if she was holding back then she will go with that. They call my name, and I have to go.

As I walk away from the table, Gammic, Crystal, and Roxy wish me luck. I walk into the gymnasium and all the Gamemakers are all watching and eating. "Adonis Breach, 17," I state and they write it down.

I walk over to the rack and I try to decide what to do, swordplay or axe-throwing. I grab the sword, and they have the assistant get one too. I'm guessing that in order to show them my sword abilities I have to fight the assistant. We get ready, and I charge. The echo of metal clashing consumes the whole room. After a while, the assistant actually drops me, and it ends my time. Some of the Gamemakers laugh. I don't like this one bit.

I walk to the rack and put the sword back. I can hear there dying laughs and a rush of anger flows through me. I reach over grab the axe, and without even a thought, I turn and throw it. It goes flying through the air and nearly severs the large rubber body in between the neck and the shoulder. All the laughter instantly stops. I walk away to the elevator and when the door closes. I start to burst out in laughter. _I'm not going to hear the end of this._


	10. Chapter 10

Later on that day, the whole District 2 entourage sits around the television, and wait for the program to come on. I'm still a little lost when it comes to Martha and the kiss from last night. I pull her aside and take her to the hallway where we'll get some privacy. "I think we need to talk?" I say.

"Are you talking about this?" she says and reaches up to kiss me.

"Exactly," I start. I liked the kiss, but our timing is completely off. "I don't think we can do this." She looks up at me with her sad eyes, and kisses me again. I cup her hands in between mine, and kiss her. She still looks sad though. She understands that we can't do this, but I want to do this, and so does she. "Don't get me wrong, I really like you, but we have no choice."

I hug her and kiss her, until I hear Marina call us back for the program. Today they're going to reveal our scores ranging from 1-12. I'll probably get a low score for my outburst today, but whatever, I'm still an attractive career. The sponsors will be crawling all over me. We sit down and Martha cuddles up next to me. I don't push her away, but I pull her closer. Destinique notices. She's about to say something when Rupalia starts the show. "Welcome, back, It's the day all of you willing sponsors have been waiting for. The day we reveal the score of our tributes." She starts off with District 1, as is tradition. Red has a score of 8, Glamour 8. I'm next..."Adonis Breach of District 2...10!"

Everyone cheers and it continues with Martha. "Martha Petra...9". The whole group's cheer turns into a roar! We're all excited now, but I know not to be to excited, we still have 20 more tributes to go through and any one of them could be better. There is one good thing to my score. I topped my brother's score of 9. Gammic and Crystal got 6, Roxy got 8, and Wrath got 9. The most surprising score is Cole from District 12, he got a 10. The only other 10 besides mine. I wonder what he did to impress the Gamemakers.

Destinique gathers us around and tells us the plan for tomorrow. We're spending time practicing our performance for our interviews with Rupalia the day after. She sends us on to bed.

I ly down and think about what the others did to impress the Gamemakers. District 12 has been known for archery skills since the rebellion, but it could also be something else. This was incredibly frustrating. I need some sleep for tomorrow.

The sleep isn't dreamless. I have a dream of the my final goodbyes to District 2. The Lady in Faith being the main character of my dream. She stands alone with me, handing me the glass ball necklace filled with purple and sea green sand. For some reason, I can also hear the clank of metal, as if it were opening and closing with powerful force. Then I hear the noise of something bulleting through the air when I wake up. I look around and see that it's still night time. I try and go back to sleep, but I fear of having the same dream, but eventually I do.

The next day, I practice with Destinique first. We practice what I'm going to say during the interview. Stuff like what character I am to portray. We finally decide on the seductive fighter from District 2. I am to stay tame, but I am allowed to flirt with Rupalia all I want until I get the crowd completely on my side. I then go with Marina and Rivers who help me with presentation. Mainly walking, perfect posture, and clear speech. They make me walk up and down the hall with a book on my head. The point was to walk straight, and to keep the book from falling. The whole day continues like this, and Martha and I are barely able to refrain from kissing. She looked gorgeous in a practice dress that Marina gave her.

Later on that day at dinner, District 1's entourage come to celebrate for tomorrow, and to discuss there plan for the games. They ask me to leave the room so I wouldn't be part of it, but I already know enough of them to possibly rule over them in the games. I don't care about what they do, as long as they keep Martha safe.

Tomorrow is the day of the interviews, and I'm not really worried about it. I'm pretty good when it comes to turning a crowd in my favor. I can bend words and make myself seem a bt more pathetic, and have people's sympathy in my hand. I can't help but think of what they're talking about, so I slowly sneak from my room to the dining room hallway where I can hear it all. When I get there I can hear that they are planning on what they are going to do to hold down the cornucopia. Apparently Glamour thinks highly of herself enough to keep some of the weaker tributes from getting any weapons if she gets there quick enough. _Not if I get there first._

I hear all I need to when I go back to bed, and sleep. Tonight is completely rid of dreams. I can just faintly hear the slash of metal through air and a faint gasp for air. Mine, most likely.

When I wake up, I see that my prep team is waiting for me. They get me up, and without stopping for breakfast take me to the Stylist's headquarters to get me ready for tonight. This alone will take the whole day until then. They trim my hair to make it a respectable size. They wash me down completely of any residue of the last couple days. I haven't been able to take showers from all the things going through my head, but I don't smell to horrible. Some of them start working on my nails which isn't really necessary. They don't paint them, they just make them cleaner and more rounded.

They get rid of any fragments of teenage beard that grew in a bit, and then they start to do my hair. "Rivers wanted to ask you if you were okay with a bit of an alteration to your hair?" Verona asks.

"What type of alterations?"

"He said that we might dye a piece of your hair blonde." Mantua grabs some of my hair and shows in the mirror.

"If it's necessary for the costume then okay." I say and Rosaline squeals. They put on face masks and start spraying and tousle my hair so they can get any other loose strands. When I open my eyes, I'm unveiled to a different Adonis. This one had blonde hair with jet black streaks. It seemed as if I was glowing. They ly me down again and they start applying small amounts of makeup. Nothing big, just things to make me less shiny. Once they finish, they tell me that I'll have a minute before Rivers comes in.

As they say their final goodbyes, I give them hugs so they know that I didn't mind there company. I approach the mirror and look deep into the eyes of this Adonis. He's no different. I can still fear the fear of going into the arena. I was shaking a bit, and I realize that this new look was nothing different. I was the same old me. Insecurities and all.

Rivers comes in and interrupts my train of thought. "Wow," he gasps. "I knew you'd look good in it!"

"Does this wash out, or do I have to go into the arena like this?" I ask him still looking in the mirror.

"I can wash it out before you enter the arena," he says. He pulls out a large black box and opens it to reveal a golden suit. I look at it and it feel soft when I run my fingers down the inside of it. "First let's do your hair, it's still kind of flimsy." He sits me down and then starts to work on my hair. After it's settled and done, he starts to put the suit on me. It's usual that Rivers thinks sex appeal when it comes to my appearance. The shirt isn't buttoned up to the top, maybe even halfway so I can give the crowd and sponsors something to fantasize about. He pulls on the golden-colored jacket over me and he looks at it.

"Is there something wrong with it?"

"No," he says. "But if something does go wrong on stage, like if you don't know what to say or do, just turn this button to the left." I'm about to do it when he stops me. "Ah ah ah! You don't want to ruin the surprise. But I do want you to use it, so you have to turn it before your turn is done."

"I'll do it." I say. We leave the room and we go to a hallway where all the tributes are waiting. Rivers releases me and tells me where my place is. When he leaves, Geisha and Martha show up. Geisha reassures us that they will be in the audience along with Destinique and Marina. She leaves the two of us alone along with the rest of the tributes. It isn't long before all of the tributes are here and the show is to begin. The music starts and we are led out on stage to parade ourselves. We are brought to our seats that is a dais behind Rupalia's main seat. Another song comes on and Flynt Ballyntyne announces Rupalia's appearance.

She comes out on stage with tall, bright red hair and a green dress that is covered in glitter and the designs look as if they were scales on fish. "Welcome, everybody!" she starts. "I'm your hostess with the mostess! And welcome to the 99th annual Hunger Games!" The crowd breaks out into a mutual roar.

"Let's get these interviews...started!"


	11. Chapter 11

The interviews are off to a normal start. From District 1 to District 12. Martha goes up before me and like always looks gorgeous. She has the perfect posture thing down. "Martha, Martha, Martha," Rupalia says sitting closer. "How are you?"

"I'm doing wonderfully, and you?" Martha says with a slight smile.

"Great, so Martha how is the Capital to you?"

"I love it, it's so beautiful!" she cheers and so does the crowd.

"Not as beautiful as you in that dress! Give us a spin, Martha!" Rupalia cheers her on as Martha spins showing off her bright orange dress that looks like one of the shades of color surrounding the sunset. Her hair trails down her back, and since it's dyed to a brighter red color it looks like a spinning fireball. "So Martha...what is your strategy for the games?"

"Well, I plan on winning, but just because I'm pretty doesn't mean that I'm not skilled after all I did get 9 the second highest score in the games this year."

"That's true!" Rupalia says and she's about to speak more when the buzzer interrupts her. She wishes Martha luck and sends her back up to her seat. She calls me down and I slowly make my way down the stairs as the crowd whistles and hollers my name.

Rupalia stands to shake my hand, but instead I kiss her hand, and the crowd loves this. We both sit down, and she starts the interview. "Adonis, you have had a lot of attention here in the Capital."

"So I've heard," I say and the crowd laughs.

"Why do you think that is?"

"I guess it's because I'm the first volunteer from any district in a long time, plus I'm not the worst looking kid to come out of District 2." more laughter. I look out in the crowd and see Marina and Destinique giving me two thumbs up. "and maybe because I shine when I'm in the spotlight."

"Really! I remember your début. You were a golden shining angel. It was really quite a show. You say you always shine in the spotlight, but you're in one now, can you show us your shine?"

"Without further a do!" I smile and turn the button slowly, and slowly the golden suit start to shine like the wings on the day of the tribute parade. I stand and hold my arms out so that I would be as radiant as the sun. Everyone awes at the spectacle.

"That's really amazing!" Rupalia laughs and I sit down as the shine starts to fade. "You volunteered right after your brother volunteered for you, why?"

"First of all, he's my friend who just happens to look a lot like me. Second, I volunteered because I knew I'd be a lot more capable to survive than he would. I've had necessary trainings to kill."

"I can tell, you had a score of 10, and I'm pretty sure you deserved it. Am I right!?" The crowd jumps in and starts yelling out all the encouragements. "Are you prepared for the games tomorrow."

"I'm ready to tear the place apart!" The buzzer goes off and my turn ends. I feel a great sense of relief as I walk back and take my place. The other interviews go good as well.

Wrath wouldn't stop talking about how he would win. Personally, I can't wait to see his name up in the night sky. The girl from 11, Veronica, is bigger than most of the girls, I don't see why she's not part of the Career pack. Cole, being the last person in the group of tributes, had to bring back the whole crowd. He says that his score was better than expected. His 10 was the only one besides mine, and I'm still trying to figure out what he did to impress the Gamemakers as much as I did.

When the show is over, we parade on the stage again, and we're taken backstage again. Martha and I walk to the elevator along with the District 1 tributes and we go to our floors. Before Glamour leaves the elevator, she turns to me with an evil smirk and says, "Good luck, Adonis. You're going to need it."

I'm not worried about tomorrow. As long as I could get Crystal, Gammic, and Roxy on my side then I'll be fine, until we get close to the end. back on our floor, we have our last dinner as a group. The food is not as good as it used to be. It has a sour taste today. I don't know if it was the food or me, though. When dinner is over, we watch the rerun of the interviews on television. Everyone cheers when they see Rivers work all over again. When it finally ends, it time to say our final goodbyes. Rivers and Geisha say goodbye to us tomorrow before we enter the arena, Marina and Destinique say theirs right now. "It was fun having you two as my kids," marina says as she hugs us. "And I will never forget you because you were my first."

"We won't forget ou either, Marina." Martha says for the both of us.

"Take care," she finally says, struggling to hold back tears as she leaves in the elevator.

Destinique slowly walks up to us both and hugs us. She doesn't let go for a while. It's weird knowing she's younger than me, yet she has so much control over my life right now. "I'll be watching over the both of you, mainly you Adonis. Mint has cover over you Martha, but you still have me in case he doesn't pull through." She kisses us both on the cheek and leaves. She stops at the end of the hallway to her room and turns back to us. "I'll stay sober during the whole game."

"Thank you," I say and she leaves. Rivers and Geisha are sniffling in front of the elevator, waiting for their chance to say goodbye. "You two don't have to say goodbye, we see you tomorrow." I tell them and Martha and I laugh.

"Yes, we know but we're really sentimental people. And tomorrow it's all business. We'd much rather get our feeling out in the open today, instead of having it interrupt the session." Geisha says.

"Seems fair," Martha runs to Geisha and gives her a hug.

I walk to Rivers and pulls me to a sudden hug. _Only Capital people would be this surprising_. "I want you to know that you were one of the best and good looking tribute I've ever had the chance to work with. You pulled off all my fashions wonderfully...better than I had ever hoped!" Rivers is on the verge of crying. His fashion is really important to him...or is it me...his model. I hug him and pat him on the back. He's given me a chance to live. The sponsors loved his work and he also gave me new self confidence.

"Thank you, Rivers. For everything. You're one of the reasons I might survive." I tell him.

"It's wonderful, how you think that I'm the reason you might win."

"What?"

"Adonis, my clothing didn't create you. You created yourself. You're the reason the sponsors will love you. My clothes was just something you wore, if anything you made them look amazing. Remember what I told you the day of the tribute parade. 'Adonis, you're not ugly. You can't be so insecure. Part of winning these games is being brave, and knowing what you can and can't do.'"

"I remember," I say. I don't know what it was about Rivers, but I felt that he wasn't the same as the rest of the Capital people. Yes, he was a little oblivious, but his words have reached down further than my comprehension. Geisha says her goodbye to me, and then they both leave.

I walk back to my room, but before I enter, Martha runs up to me and kisses me. I kiss her back and walk into my room. After a couple of minutes, the door slides open and Martha walks in for another kiss.

"Can I sleep in here tonight?" she asks. I think about it.

"Go get dressed and come back," I say and she leaves. I start getting ready and I stop for a moment to take in all that's happened and what will happen tomorrow. From leaving District 2 and leaving...Hanna! I completely forgot about Hanna. I was supposed to be with her. But things are different with Martha then they are with Hanna. I like Hanna, but I think there is something more with Martha. Why did I have to kiss her the first day...but I don't regret it. The door opens and she walks in.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she says and covers her eyes. I realize I'm still half-naked, so I dress quickly. I walk up to her and pull her hands away from her face. I kiss her and she comes closer to hug me. I walk her to the bed and put her under the covers. I ly down next to her and she comes in closer with me. I kiss her and I tell her to go to sleep. Slowly I start to drift away too, and I feel a lot better about tomorrow too. I hope she can stay safe, but there can only be one winner, and it's going to have to be me or her. Hopefully someone gets to her before I have to.

"Take care." I kiss her on the forehead and go to sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Part 2: The Arena Calls

In the morning, Rivers gets me dressed in normal clothes and then separates me from Martha. We go to the roof, and there is a hovercraft waiting for us. They take us in and a Peacekeeper injects a tracker into my forearm. Rivers wasn't lying when he said today would be nothing but business. he hadn't said a word the whole time. He just sat there and drank his coffee staring out the window as I ate the prepared meal.

When the windows started to darken, which means we're arriving to the arena, I start to tremble. I close my eyes, and I prepare for the worst of today. I shake as we walk to the launching room beneath the plate of where I am to wait. Rivers lets me take a shower, and when I'm done gives me an automatic heating robe. He gets the blonde out of my hair and then he starts to hand me the clothes for the arena to change in.

The clothes is simple. Running shoes that'll allow me to swim if I have to, a jacket that'll keep my body heat from getting away when I need it, and a shirt with my district number, 2. Everything is mainly meant to keep me from dying a boring death. "Tributes please go to launching pad." A voice announces. I can feel myself shaking again. I turn to Rivers and he slaps me.

"You can't get nervous!" he holds me steady. The small, chubby man I had learned to become friends with is gone. This Rivers was more serious, even of his eyes are watering. "Good luck out there, Adonis." I walk to the glass tube that awaits me, and then he calls out after me one more time. "You forgot this," he puts the brass chain with the glass ball around my neck. "Wouldn't want to forget it, now go on out there and win!"

I walk into the tube and it closes around me. I pound the glass, and he mouths out the words again. "Don't be nervous." I can't help myself. I see a light above me, and I see that I'm going straight up past the arena. I look around and see that everyone else is gong up to. The platform finally stops, and the voice announces, "Let the 99th annual Hunger Games begin!"

I have sixty seconds to take in my surroundings. I see the cornucopia in the middle and I look around to the other tributes. With every second the platform lowers more. I finally look at th arena, and I can see far beyond the treetops. It seems to go on forever. When I get closer to the ground I see that the trees are spread out, and this isn't an ordinary forest. It's a swamp. The floor is covered with murky water. A swamp floor is mainly made of water but there are some spots of land here or there. Finding drinking water wouldn't be very difficult if this water was clear and clean. It's too dirty. "10...9...8"

I look around to see where my allies are, but I see that Gammic and Crystal are at opposite ends of me, Crystal is right next to Martha, and next to me is Roxy. We might have to split up into groups if we can't find each other in time. "5...4...3..." I get back in and think of running to grab my sword, most likely my axe. "2...1..." The gong rings out and I start running. I passing all of my neighbors and I'm there before I know it. I rummage through the boxes and the walls that are filled with weapons.

I grab a pack, and when I turn around I see a pick axe coming down on me, and I move out of the way. Cole tries to pull it out of the golden wall of the cornucopia as I grab the red long sword on the wall, and I run off. The girl from 7 comes at me with a knife and I shank her with the sword. I push her off the end and I keep turning looking for my teammates. I see people being cut down and others running into the forest. I see Martha fighting with the boy from 11, and she's losing. _No!_ I run back to him, and I stab him. I make sure it goes through him, completely. Martha swings at me, but she misses purposely. I get further away from a charging Wrath who gets tackled by the girl from 8. _Surprising how that happened._ I turn around to see if I can spot Gammic or Crystal, but instead I get a knife in my shoulder. I look across to see Glamour running towards me.

I run into the swamp making splashing noises in the low water as I run. Before I escaped into the forest, I saw Roxy running in the opposite direction with her bow and arrows. I keep running until I think I have a far enough distance between myself and the cornucopia. I lean against a tree, and notice how different this forest is then the ones back in District 2. These trees are skinnier and taller. The branches look stable enough to hold a person up though. The floor is covered in murky water, but like I said there are some patches of land covered by sea plants. I start walking and I feel heated up from the run. I take off the sweater and stuff it into the backpack. I catch a glimpse of what's inside but I plan on looking in on that later.

As I walk through the spread trees, I find a path of land that is wet, but land is land. The water covers up to the top of the sole of my shoe, the water before was up to my ankles, and at the cornucopia it was to my shin. The cornucopia must have been close to the river where the water originates. The trees also start to change. The branches spread out farther from the bark and they're thicker.

The wound from Glamour's knife doesn't look as if it made too much damage. I stop and sit down when I hear a loud scream from a girl and a strange clicking noise, the type that would belong to a bug. _Mutts_, I think to myself. The Capital mutations have claimed their first victim. I start to walk because the clicking is still to close to be comfortable with.

I don't stop walking even though I should go back and find Roxy and the rest. I should stop and eat, but I'm not even sure if I have any food with me. The sun isn't as hot as it was 2 hours ago, and it looks as if it's setting. I decide to climb a tree and rest for a while.

I sit against the tree and rest in a fork of branches high enough to keep me safe from any other tributes.

After finally restoring my breathing back to normal, I decide to look through my pack while there is still enough light to see. I find goggles for diving, a bottle of water, a knife with teeth, a blow dart tube with some darts, and a couple of matches. Very few to be comfortable with. As I sit in the tree looking over the swamp, I hear a cannon. It must be signaling the dead tributes. _1...2...3...4...5...6...7...8_, eight cannons meaning eight dead tributes and 16 left. I really hope none of my missing teammates were one of them, or Martha. I wonder how the Careers are doing. I know that Glamour is after me, she made it very clear when she flew a knife straight into my shoulder. I didn't really see Red, Wrath charged at me but was then tossed to the ground by the girl from 8. I didn't see Gammic or Crystal. They must be excited that the arena includes water terrain.

I pull out the sweater and put it on since it starts to gets colder. I ly down and wait for the faces of the dead tributes to go up in the night sky. As I doze off a bit, I hear a movement in the water beneath the tree. I look down cautiously and see the tribute girl from 3. She has a pack and she's walking around cautiously. She turns back to see if people are coming, but no one. She keeps walking and she comes up to my tree. She pulls a rock from her pocket and throws it in. The rock seems to sink in further than expected, because she grabs hold of the tree as she walks into the path she had chosen. She lets go of the tree and the water goes up to her chest. She continues walking. I decide to leave her alone for now.

After she's gone, I decide that maybe it would be smart to keep on moving. I slowly slip my feet into the water, and I lift the pack on. The water goes up to my stomach, but up to the girl's chest because she was shorter. I kneel in the water so I won't be seen by others. I keep the sword high in case I have to fight off any Mutts or tributes.

I travel by water until the moon is up. I decide to find a tree and find a resting place for the night. It shouldn't be long until the faces are shown. Another cannon goes off, and I look towards the sky when I hear the Anthem of Panem cut it short.

The faces start with District 3, meaning the Careers lived. Both tributes from Districts 3, 7, 8, the girl from 9, the boy from 11, and the girl from 12. The night sky goes dark again. Two of those faces were my victims. The others were either killed by Mutts, Careers, or others. Roxy, Gammic, and Crystal are still alive. That's a relief, and so is Martha. Now I can go to sleep, only I can't. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten anything since before I entered the arena, and even in te hovercraft I ate very little so I would get used to the hunger. I hear more splashing beneath and in the faint light of the moon I can see that it's the boy from 5. He slowly but loudly makes his way through the water. I pull out the blow dart tube, and fill it with a dart. I should put him out of his misery quicker, if I leave him the Mutts might get him, and I would personally rather take the dart. I shoot it, and he falls into the floats for a while and then the cannon fires. The hovercraft comes and with its gigantic metal claw, takes the body.

I look out over the swamp and here the peaceful singing of the crickets. The occasional ribbit from a toad, and far away from me. I can see the glow of a fire that belongs to the stupidest tribute in the history of the games, unless they built it as a trap. This is probably Glamour since she finds it interesting when tributes set traps.

I decide not to worry about it since it's not my problem, but tomorrow I will be going in that direction to find my companions.


	13. Chapter 13

In the morning, the sun isn't as powerful. It's still beating down, though. I slowly shimmy down the tree trunk and land in the murky water. I crouch down and walk back in the direction I came in. The water is higher today. It's up to my chest now. My stomach rumbles and I remember that I haven't eaten yet. I would call out for Destinique to get me something, but I'm pretty sure that she would know if I needed some, she is watching over me after all. I can find some. There is probably fish in the water.

I reach down and see if I can feel anything. I think I feel a fin but when I tug on it I pull out a plant. I keep moving ahead. I know I might be scaring away the fish, but I might a land animal that is better suited for eating.

After an hour or two of travel, I fall into a deeper end of water that goes up to my neck. I have to do a small paddle to get me through the water without making to much water. Another canon fires. I keep swimming and I finally spot land. I swim a bit faster since I'm tired of being in the water. When I arrive to the small island I see that there is a path that leads to more land covered in moss. I must've been swimming in the river. I was susceptible to attack this whole time without even knowing it. I get on the mossy river banks and start searching for anything. I grab the knife from the pack and put the sword back in it's sheath.

I get the strange sense of deja vu when I realize that I'm hunting again. It feels good to be in a natural surrounding. I hear a noise coming from the opposite side of the bank so I duck behind a shrub. I look through to see if I can catch a glimpse of what it is. The rustling is starting to get through when I see the tribute from 6 pop out running from the big bush on the other side. He slides to a stop when he gets to the river's edge.

He looks hesitant to jump in but he keeps looking back with a scared expression. He must be getting chased. I hear more stomps coming from behind him, and he takes the leap into the water. He struggles to get across but when he's about to I see a spear go flying through him. I look back across and see Martha. The canon fires and then the rest of the Careers appear.

"Damn, Girly! That was a great shot!" Wrath says patting her on the back.

"A hell of a shot I'd say!" Red says looking out over the stretched out river. I'd have to agree with him. Martha was able to get the squirming boy from that distance is impressive. She could even get me if she had another spear. I look at the boys hand and I see he has a small pack wrapped in a parachute. _A gift from his mentor_.

"Come on, let's go get your spear!" I hear Glamour as she looks into the water. _Crap, they're going to find me._ This is when the term "curiosity killed the cat" comes true. I get the sword out and I charge for the boy's body. They all turn quickly when they hear me. I grab the pack from his hand and they jump in the water to chase me. I start running back into the forest.

I can hear them getting out of the water, but by this time they would have to start running quicker to catch up to me. I splash through some of the soggy moss. Making sharp turns so they would lose me. In a matter of minutes I lose myself. I have no idea in what direction I went. I come to an open clearing. It's empty except for a gigantic flower in the middle. It's doesn't even look like a flower. It has large spikes at the ends of it's two large petals and it doesn't have any color but it does have a slight red near the spikes. It's roots spread across the whole clearing floor. I suspect that this is one of the Capital Muttations so I decide to keep my distance. I walk around and when I reach the other side I see that the pack is coming after me. I decide to let the mutt take care of them for me. I grab the sword and stab it into it's root.

The root retreats back, and it releases a glass shattering scream. I see that the earth around it is shaking and the Careers have stopped. The roots all start to move and I find that this is my chance to escape. I look back while I run through the trees and see that the two petals closed together to form a gigantic mouth. It was a gigantic Venus Fly trap. I remember from learning it in the training room. It's carnivorous plant that'll eat small bugs, but it's obvious that the Gamemakers have made this one to eat things a lot bigger when I hear a cannon fire. I stop and look back, hoping that it wasn't Martha that it took.

I stop for a moment and then continue running. Instead of coming to a clean halt, I fall to my knees. I'm still hungry and there is no food in my pack. All the running plus the hunger is starting to get to me. I'm weak. I try and get up, but I end up falling again. I breathing heavily now. _The pack!_ I remember the boy from 6's pack. I open and it was as if Destinique sent it to him to give to me. It was a small bag of dried fruit. I open it and start popping them into my mouth. It was one of the best meals I've ever had. Not because it tasted better, but because it had revived me in a matter of minutes. I leave some for later, and I continue the walk through the swamp. I look back to reassure myself that the Careers probably went running back than to face off against the Venus Fly trap.

I come to a river and I see a parachute flying down towards the current of the small river. I follow it and I see that it landed on a small pile of twigs. that are stuck together to make a small dome. _Beavers._ It's a beaver's home. I go running for it, and when I arrive to it, I see that a beaver is just making it's way out of the home. I grab the knife and toss it, landing in the beaver's side. I climb the small dome and get the small canister holding my present. It's a small note and a piece of large plastic. The note read "You're welcome, and just so you know that if you hadn't figured out to check the boy's pack, I would've sent you something to eat. Love, Destinique." She did send me the plastic, probably to hold any left over beaver. I wrap the beaver's body in the plastic and swim across the small river.

I settle down and start a fire. It's still bright enough for the smoke not to be seen to clearly, so for now I have my breakfast, or lunch judging by the position of the sun. I stab the beaver with a long stick and cook it over the fire. I sit and think about where Roxy, Gammic, and Crystal could be.

There is only 11 of us left. _Who would that be? _I can't be sure until tonight. I know that four people have died today, one of the careers, the boy from 6, and the other two are still a mystery. As I take the first bite into the beaver meat, I hear a slight splash. Not the sound of someone in the river but someone on the moist land. I turn around and swing my sword just in time to knock the arrow to the ground. "Roxy?" I ask the person hiding in the bushes.

"Adonis?" she pops out. It is Roxy! I run to her and hug her.

"Roxy, am I glad to see you."

"Where's Gammic and Crystal?"

"They ran in a different direction. I couldn't get them." Roxy looks at the fire and the cooked beaver. "Come on, I was just in the middle of lunch. There's enough for the both of us." She sits down next to the fire and heats up before she does anything else. "Where have you been this whole time?"

She takes a bite of the beaver and tells her story. She says that after grabbing her bow and arrows she ran into the swamp. She said that she killed the girl tribute from 9, and the boy from 7. She says that she killed them by hiding in the water the whole time and surprising them with one flying arrow. She has 12 left. She even slept in a clump of reeds in the water. The blindness of her one eye kept her from climbing any trees at night.

"I was going to go look for you three but apparently we were all separated." We continue eating, and after I put the fire out, we continue moving. We pass by more water soaked strips of land and trees that are strange to me. She seems to have a lot of knowledge about swamps. She says that the Venus Fly trap I saw earlier are indigenous to areas like these, but it's size was in complete control of the Gamemakers. She even tastes the water to see if it was salt water or fresh. "It's better to stay close to salt water, that way we don't have any reptilian friends during our travels."

"How do you know so much about swamps?" I ask her.

"Well back in District 5, the fence closing us off is surrounded by swamps. Living really close to them, you might as well learn a thing or two to survive. Doesn't District 2 have any swamps?"

"Not really, we're nothing but forestry, four mountains, and one lake." It's true there is no swamps in District 2, the only way I was able to recognize this is because I saw one in the games when I was younger. The year before my brother's win I believe. His was a frozen tundra with a snow-capped mountain.

We walk until it's dark. She tells me to take the lead and that she'd cover the rear with her arrows ready. I know what she was actually trying to say though. "You find us a place to sleep for the night and I'll follow, my blind eye doesn't allow me to see much at night." I look for a tree with a branches high enough and sturdy enough to hold us both. For a while, I don't feel it, but I realize that Roxy is holding on to the end of my shirt and she's shaking. She's just as scared as anyone in the arena. I find a stable tree, and I begin to climb when I feel her tug on my shirt.

"I can't climb," she says with an unsteady voice.

"I'll carry you," I say and I pull her on to my back. "Hold on."

"I will."


	14. Chapter 14

We sit up in the tree and we eat the remains of the beaver from earlier on. We sit and look up at the sky, waiting for the faces to show. "You know back in District 5 you can't see the stars because of all the light pollution." she says wistfully as she stares into the sky.

"That's right, District 5 provides electricity for all of Panem. How is it there?" I'm curious again.

"Bright. The place is filled with bright electric generator factories. It's sort of how my eye lost its vision."

"How did that happen?"

"Well, it was about four years ago, when I went to the factory to look for my dad. I accidentally went into the wrong room, and a bright light shoot straight into my eyes. One was repairable but the other was damaged beyond repair."

"The same thing happened to me when I was young. I was electrocuted."

"How?" she says surprised.

"My brother dropped an outlet into my bath water. Ever since then I'm immune to electric currents."

"Your brother, X?"

"Yes," I say a bit ashamed. "X."

"He killed my cousin in the arena."

"I'm sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault. The stars are amazing, do you see them a lot in District 2."

"All the time." I say. Right now the cameras are probably off of us because the Capital doesn't want each District knowing about the other. "In District 2, if you go up to one of the mountains, you can get the best view of the moon."

"Paint me a picture." She closes her eyes and I'm confused. "Describe it to me."

"Oh, okay." I begin. "The moon is bright and it hovers over the mountain like a gigantic firefly. Do you have those in your district?" She nods. "Well, anyways it's there. It shines bright like gold. A whole sphere of gold light shining above. All around it are tiny stars that dot the sky like glitter on paper. They all stay there like children around their mother. They shine just as bright, diamonds twinkling in the sky. The moon doesn't just shine on us, but on the lake. It reflects off the lake's rippling water and it stays calm. It's truly a beautiful sight. I'm going to miss it."

"It sounds extremely beautiful. You'll see it again one day." She says.

"Maybe." I look to the sky and see the stars. I can hear the crickets, the frogs, and even the rush of the river's water. The sky lights up with the anthem playing. It's time to see who's gone. The first face belongs to Red. He's dead. The Venus Fly trap must've got him. The next one is to the boy from 5, and both tributes from 6. The sky turns dark again. "I'm sorry about your district partner." I tell Roxy.

"It's fine, he was really cool, but I knew he wasn't going to make it far." She stays silent. "What about your district partner, Martha?"

"Martha is with the Careers. Safe, hopefully."

"She's really pretty."

"I know." I say and I start thinking about the night we first kissed. "She's really pretty."

"You care a lot about her don't you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"With a blind eye, my other senses heightened. I can hear the care in your voice."

"Yes, I do care about her, a lot. I'm going to tell you a secret, okay?" I say and she gets closer. "I really like her." She giggles. "A lot. I kissed her before." When I tell her this she looks saddened. She knows as well as I do that it's a tragic loss. I can't be with Martha because we're tributes. Nothing more.

After a while, Roxy falls asleep on my arm, and I do too. In my dreams, I'm with Martha in a plain filled with bright colorful flowers. She ly her head on my lap, and I play with her hair. She reaches up and kisses me. The sun is bright, and the cool summer breeze blows through. The mockingjays are singing. I hold Martha close and I kiss her. She's mine and I'm hers. I kiss her one last time and the dream ends. I'm awaken by the singing of birds. I look around and I see the fluttering of big blue birds. "Blue Jays," I hear Roxy say.

We crawl down the tree and land in the water. "So who's left?" she asks me. I think about it. We have Glamour, Wrath, Martha, Cole, Veronica, Gammic, Crystal, Roxy, the boy from 9, the girl from 10, and me. She asks me who were going to go after first, and I don't know what to tell her. I'm not sure it would be smart to hunt anyone down on an empty stomach. I tell her that we'll go hunting for breakfast. She follows me with her bow and arrow in position to shoot. I throw a rock into the water, and the splash sets off a chain reaction where all the animals around start to flee. She shoots a bird, and I throw my sword into the water to catch a fish.

I set the fire and we roast our meals. The whole day we travel through the swamp cautiously. No canons are fired today, so we go straight to sleep at night. It goes like this for the next 2 days. Over this period, I get to know Roxy and District 5 a bit more. Roxy is the youngest of 4. Her oldest sister was a tribute in the games and was killed by a tidal wave. She helps her parents fend for food, since they are to old and sickly to do it themselves, so she works turning cranks to generate energy. She's sort of like me, except her work isn't illegal. It's about this time that the Gamemakers will be getting bored with us, so they'll do something to set off some excitement.

While I set a trap for anyone who's coming, I hear movement coming from the swamp beyond our camp. "Roxy, stay here." I tell her as I grab my sword and go towards the noise. I come up on the bush. When I pull the leaves aside, he pops out at me. The boy from District 9. I grab him and toss him. He's relentless though. He swings his axe and I block it with my sword. The clank of metal sounds through the swamp, and I look over to see Roxy frozen in fear. The boy kicks me in the side and I drop my sword. He swings the axe down on me, but when I move, he misses his target and gets his own foot.

I roll over to my pack, pull the knife out, and fling it at him. It spins and then lands in his chest. He falls on it and the canon fires. I grab the large axe and peel it from his foot. I swing it to see how heavy it is, and I realize that I successfully killed another tribute. Three to be exact.

I put the sword in its sheath attached to my belt and carry the axe with me. "You okay?" I ask Roxy, wiping the blood that the tribute spit on me off of my face.

"I'm okay."

"I think we should get going," I say spitting out the blood from my mouth. She gets her stuff and she gets ready to go. I'm tired of this game. I want to end as quickly as possible. "We need to get back to the cornucopia, that's where we'll find the Careers. We'll get rid of them now, so we can finish these games sooner." I look up to the sky to see the clouds forming and small water droplets turn bigger.

"Okay. I remember how to get back, but we have to find my marks." I give her a confused look and she explains. She has been marking the trees in the path we took just in case we had to go back to the cornucopia. I follow her as she feels the tree for the marks. By the time that the moon is up we've made it back to the river where the boy from 5 died. I remember because we passed by the Venus Fly trap. It felt strange to see the shirt marked "District 1" hanging from its row of teeth. _Poor Red_, I think to myself. He deserved a better death.

Out of the whole group of Careers, not including Martha, he was the nicest. I actually felt as if we were friends. We wait up in the tree and eat some rat-like muttation that was perfectly safe to eat. The face of the boy from 9 shows up in the sky, and I go to sleep. The last canon must have sent the other tributes into a frenzy. It should've reminded them that there is still a game to finish. All this blood I've seen recently had affected me. I don't like it. I feel as if I've become my brother.

After a couple of hours of sleep, I wake up to the sounds of clicking and it's starting to rain again. _The insect muttations!_ I wake Roxy and quickly gather our things. I bring her down the tree with me, and I hear the clicking louder now. I pull her along, and I drag her through the water. It isn't until we reach the opposite side that Roxy picks up the pace and starts to run. I look back and see a cloud of clicking and fluttering.

They start getting closer and I feel a bite on the back of my neck. I smack the bug and when I look at my hand I see blood and the bug with large pincers. I throw it back and pull Roxy along faster as she screams in pain. The Gamemakers have succeeded in rousing us up. I look over and hear more stomping. I see wrath carrying Martha and Glamour. he's big, but I had no idea that he could carry the both of them. I prepare the axe, but I realize that if I kill him then it would kill Martha too.


	15. Chapter 15

Roxy and I are running at an even pace, when I see Martha and Glamour jump off Wrath's back. Glamour runs ahead of both and throws a knife back. It lands in Wrath's head, and he falls back. The bugs swarm him, but they continue the chase on us. The cannon fires and I know that Wrath is dead. I look back and see that there is a large black cloud of bugs on what used to be Wrath. Glamour and Martha are running faster than us. I expect a knife flying through the air at me, so I decide to beat Glamour to it.

I unlock the blow dart tube from my belt and fire a dart straight into Glamour's arm. She shrugs it off, and I realize that I just got her shirt. I hear a beeping from above me. I wonder what it is. I look up and see a parachute attached to a canister. I run ahead and grab it. I twist it open and pull out my gift. A whistle. I blow on it, but I don't hear anything. I keep blowing on it, but no one seems to acknowledge it. "Damn it, Destinique! This is useless!"

I keep running along with the others. As I run I fall straight into the deep water and I start pushing through. "What was the gift!?" Roxy shouts as we splash through the water.

"This stupid whistle!" I toss it to her. She examines it, and then blows on it. I look back and see the bugs dropping slowly. The clicking starts to die down. It's hard to blow and run, plus Roxy is tiny, I doubt she'll have enough power to keep blowing on it. I take it from her and stop running. I blow straight into it, and slowly as the bugs reach me they all fall into the water. It was as if they hit a strong invisible wall. I start running again as the bugs collect themselves in their daze, and I catch up to Roxy. Martha is ahead of us. She looks back when Glamour grabs her arm and forces her to keep running.

The bugs are out of there daze and before long, I see the opening with the cornucopia. There are storm clouds far above us. I can see the arena fill with bright lightning. We're running down the path to the cornucopia. I look across the swamp water and see Gammic and Crystal running from wolf type mutts. The other direction, I see Cole from District 12 and the girl from 10 running too. He runs with his hands clasped around his ears. I can see that the muttations chasing him ar screaming, they kind of sound like a mix of a women and children. _Jabberjays_. I see Veronica down in the middle. This is what the Gamemakers planned. It probably ends today in a bloodbath, or some of us will be killed and the others will escape.

We're treading water as we run towards the cornucopia. Everyone piles into the cornucopia and we all catch our breath. The sky is still dark, and all the muttations have seceded. I catch my breath when once again the pick axe comes swinging at me. The bloodbath has restarted. I use my axe and block it. Roxy takes the sword from my belt and she starts swinging at Veronica and her mace. I start backing Cole out of the cornucopia and we're outside lit up by the flashing thunder above us along with the rain that is now falling on us. I hear a splash besides us, and I see that Crystal and Glamour are in the middle of a fist fight. While I'm distracted Cole must've gotten off the ground, because he was able to use the pick axe to puncture my thigh. Not too serious but it still hurt. A canon fires and I turn around to see Martha holding her bloody spear, standing over the body of the girl from 10.

I turn and smash the end of the axe's steel into Cole's head. I was hoping that the sharp edge was what got him, he stumbled a bit and fell back in the water. I turn to see Gammic on top of Martha holding the spear's shaft too her throat. I run to her, and I push him off, I hold him down.

"Oh, sorry, Gammic. I couldn't really tell." I look back and see Martha punch Crystal in the head, and escape with Glamour. _She was able to escape_, I think to myself in relief. The clouds started to part, and then I hear Roxy scream.

"Adonis, help!" I look back to see Veronica shove the sword into Roxy, and pinning her to the cornucopia's wall.

"No!" I shout and run to her. I throw the axe and it lands in Veronica's back. The canon fires, and I undid Roxy from the wall. "Roxy."

"I'll be fine, Adonis, just get away from here." She looks towards the swamp trees, and I notice that the water has filled up higher. They reach the tree tops, all I can see is the top branches of the trees over the water. The island holding the cornucopia must've floated up higher.

"No, we have to stay here with you, Roxy." I tell her. I can feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

"Okay," she smiles and her eyes start to close slowly. All the blood must be draining from her quick.

"No, don't go, Roxy. Look stay alive, you have to go see your family." She puts her bloody hand on my cheek.

"Can you describe it to me?"

I start to think. She probably thinks of home. I have to think of all the stuff she's told me. "We're all back in District 5. You walk along the swamps surrounding the fence. The frogs and crickets singing their musical lullaby. You go back to your home. You open the door to see your family all waiting for you. Your three sisters and you mom and dad. They all give you a big hug, and tell you that you're okay, because you are."

"I am..." she says fading away slowly.

"Yes, you are. You no longer have to work to feed your family, you won the Hunger Games, and now you have all the money to buy food and clothes for your whole family."

"I do..." she starts closing her eyes. My eyes are starting to overflow. "Take care of yourself, and no matter what, you go get Martha. And be with her for as long as you can."

"I will, Roxy." The canon fires and now Roxy is gone. "Roxy could've gone on to win these games and have a wonderful life. But now she's gone, because you in the Capital wanted to be entertained! Well, how does it feel. She's dead, and now her family will never see her again! I hope you're happy!" I yell out up above. I'm breathing heavily, and I wipe away the small tears surrounding my eyes. "Let's go." I tell Crystal and Gammic, who stand behind me.

I walk to the shore of the small island and slowly walk into the murky water. It's a lot deeper than I thought. I put the axe in the loop of my belt, and start swimming. Crystal and Gammic swim right next to me. As we glide through the water I can see the top branches of the trees near us, and I can feel the branches of the smaller trees beneath us. They brush my legs like the hands of the dead reaching towards the surface of the water to get some air.

We keep swimming when finally Crystal turns to me with sad eyes. "I'm sorry about Roxy."

"It's okay, hopefully she's in a better place now." I tell her. "How have you guys managed so far?"

"Well, we've suffered. Gammic hasn't talked since the second day." Crystal tells me. I turn to look Gammic. He looks straight forward. Nothing in his way. He's as blank as Roxy's blind eye. I wave my hand in front of his face and he turns to me. No emotion whatsoever.

"What happened?"

"We teamed up with the girl from 12, Ashley. We were in the water when we got attacked by a huge alligator. Gammic tried pulling her out of the water. He held on to her arms, but the lower half of her body was in its mouth. It finally did a death roll, and sprayed us in her blood." Crystal tells me the horrifying description of the event. I can only imagine what's going on in Gammic's head. "He tried to help her the most, I guess that's why he's affected by it so much."

"I haven't really seen anyone die except for the boy from 5, and the boy from 3, and I killed the boy from 3." I tell her. Gammic stops dead in the water. I look back and so does Crystal. He looks into the water, and I look down to. I see the water is a lot more clear now. I can see to the bottom and I see fish. Big fish, enough to cook with. I hear a splash and I look up to see Crystal and Gammic are gone. I look down and see the both of them swimming towards the bottom. I see Gammic revealing his trident and he throws it down. I put on the goggles from my pack and I try to dive along with them, but I can't hold my breath as long as they can, plus my swimming abilities are childish compared to theirs.

When they come back up, Crystal and Gammic are laughing. This must be the first time since they arrives in the arena that they've gone fishing. I've barely been able to survive on one water bottle and the non-dangerous muttations. They've probably been doing the same since the water has been too murky to identify any living life in them, but now that the arena has overflown we can now see clearly.

We keep swimming until we come up on land, which must be the surrounding mountains. I still don't understand how the arena had filled up with so much water. The Gamemakers must have opened a concealed dam and flooded the arena without us noticing because we were fighting in the arena. Martha and Glamour, and Cole must be in the surrounding mountains.

We find a comfortable place hidden among trees, and Crystal makes a fire. "Wait, won't that attract attention." I try to stop her.

"Attention from who? Martha and Glamour? Cole? They're out numbered they wouldn't go looking for a fight."

She was right. We'd easily take Cole down and Martha and Glamour are too smart to fight with Crystal and I.


	16. Chapter 16

That night, in the sky I saw the faces of the dead tributes. Roxy, first. Wrath and his district partner next, and finally Veronica. Seeing Roxy one more time was theraputic. I can finally go to sleep knowing that I didn't just abandon her at the cornucopia. She was really dead, and now she's safe. Another victim of the games, like her older sister and her cousin that my brother killed.

In the morning, the sky is clouldless. The sun stands alone. I sit up and see Crystal and Gammic talking, well Crystal trying to talk to Gammic. Gammic leans on her chest. "Come on, Gammic. We need you to get through it," she says to him. "You need to stay alive with Adonis and me so we can make it to the final three. You've been there for me since we were kids, now it's my turn to return the favor." She leans in and kisses him on the cheek.

"Come on, Gammic, please stay with me." she's starting to cry. He's still motionless. I hear a canon fire, and Crystal releases a shriek. I rush over to her and see the ground in front of her covered in blood. It's all coming from Gammic's wrist.

"What happened?!" I grab hold of Crystal and stare at the blood stained stone in front of us.

"He did it himself. I woke up to see him slash his wrist with the knife." She's hysterical. Crystal cries into my chest the whole time.

"Come on, we have to go." I tell her when the wind starts to get strong. The hovercraft is right above us now, waiting for us to move out of the way. I take his trident, and give it to Crystal. I hold my arm around her as we watch Gammic get taken into the air and out of the arena. She breaks down again and I hold her up. She cries out his name over and over and it's muffled in my shirt.

I finally sit her down and calm her down. I wrap my sweater around her and leave her by the fire with the trident to protect herself while I go hunt. We finished off the last of the fish yesterday. When I look back upon yesterday, I probably should of taken Roxy's arrows with me. That would make hunting animals a lot faster. I make due with the axe, because I have a lot of experience with it.

I go far into the mountains, but not far enough where I wouldn't be able to go back to Crystal. I give up when I can't find anything, so I return to the fire. "There was nothing, I guess we should just start walking." Just when I say this, I hear a beep from above us. I look up and I see two parachutes coming down. One has a larger canister, and the other has four water bottles. The land and I instantly open the large one. I can see steam rising from it, and I can see that it's cooked meat. I pull out some and taste it. It's Capital food. This must be really expensive. The sponsers are really helping out. I toss Crystal a water bottle and sit down next to her.

We eat the expesive meat, and she seems a bit calmer. "So we're in the final 5." I tell her. She nods and I put my arm around here. It might be midafternoon, but it's really cold. She gives me back the sweater and I put it on. We stay around the fire, and from time to time it dies out. Crystal finally asks me, "Who do you think they interviewed for you back home?"

"My Dad, Aries the boy who voluntered for me, my friend Indiana, and probably this one girl named Hanna. What about you?"

"No one, if Gammic wasn't chosen as tribute, he would probably be the only person they'd interview for me."

"Why is he the only one?"

"I'm an orphan," she says and I don't know what to say. Should I apologize for her lose.

"My best friend's an orphan too. He lives with me and my father. He was the boy who volunteered for me."

"Really, that's really cool, but at least he has people and a family. I never got to meet mine once." She says and she leans in closer to me. I look up to the sky and the sun is gone. The clouds are gray and the sky is starting to blacken. We stand up and we begin to walk the mountains that are not covered in water. We walk for a while and then it starts raining again.

It took most of a quiet day for Crystal to finally say something. "Adonis, I think it's time we split up?"

"Are you sure, Crystal. We just united?"

"Yeah, but it's time. There is only four of us left, and I don't want to be the one to kill you. It's better this way!" She holds up the trident as if she's going to throw it, so I get ready to swing the axe, but instead of attacking she runs off in the opposite direction.

"Take care of yourself, Crystal!" I yell out after her. I continue walking and then I reach an abandoned campsite. I look around the place and see the charred remains of a rodents body. The place isn't abandoned, the owner just went out for something.

I hear a roar from behind me, and when I turn around I see Glamour charging at me. She jumps on top of me and holds a knife to my neck. "You! I've been looking all over the place for you!"

"Glamour! Where's Martha?" I say as she holds the knife close to my throat.

"Hopefully, she's in the stomach of a alligator,"

"Where is she!"

"Why? You miss your little girlfriend. You miss holding her, well, after the number I did on her face, she won't be as pretty!"

"What did you do to her!"

"I simply made an incession right here," she puts the knife up to the side of my face. I try pushing her off, but Glamour is a lot more skilled than I thought. She has me pinned down, and I can't make move that won't allow her to easily slit my throat.

"If you hurt her, I swear Glamour. I'm going to..."

"Do what? Kill me? I don't think you're in the position to make that threat!" She holds the knife closer to my throat and I can feel it beginning to slice inwards. "It's your fault that Red is dead, now you're going to join him."

"No!" I hear someone yell, and Glamour flies off me. I look over and I see Crystal and Glamour fighting. I look around for my axe, and I can't see it anywhere in the mud. I finally find it, and when I stand up, I see Glamour throw her knife at me.

Everything goes in slow motion, at least until Crystal jumps in the way and take the knife instead of allowing it to bury itself in me. I grab my axe and fling it at Glamour, tearing her a gigantic gash on her side. The canon fires. I grab Crystal and see that she's still alive, Glamour is dead.

"Crystal, why did you do it?" I ask her.

"I have nothing to go home too, you do," she starts off by saying. "And I also wanted to show you that I could protect you, to show you how far we can go if we had just gathered together. Like the district should."

"Bye, Crystal," I hold her.

"Bye, Adonis. Don't think of this as a farewell, though. And it isn't sad, I'm going to go join Gammic." She closes her eyes, and then the canon fires. I ly her down, and then leave. I keep walking, and I think about what she had said. _What did she mean by "Like the districts should"?_ Was Crystal refering to a rebellion, then I realize that what I had said after Roxy's death could be taken as something to get people started. I'd rather not think about it. I have to focus on winning now.

I walk around aimlessly for the remainder of the day. I find a spot and go to sleep. I try not to dream, but I do. I hear Roxy's scream, see Crystal jumping in front of me, Gammic slitting his wrist. And somewhere amongst the chaos, I can see Martha. Motionless. I'd rather not see her die, so I have to find her, and at least be with her for half a day. But tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day in these games, I just know it.


	17. Chapter 17

When I wake up, the sun is in the sky, and the flooded arena water is gone. Actually most of the water is gone. The ground is still damp, but the water reaching up to my ankles is gone. I can now see the bases of the trees. I look through the backpack and I have no food.

I look to the sky and yell out, "Destinique! I think some food would be nice!" When I yell this out, two parachutes appear. They both land next to me, and I see one has a boomerang with a sharp end, and then the other has more Capital food.

I'm surprised. To get a weapon and food like this in this point in the game, must be extremely expensive. The sponsors must really want me to live. I guess I only have Rivers to thank for that.

As soon as I finish eating the small portion I get up and start walking. I have to find Martha or Cole. Hopefully I find Martha.

It's nice to see the bottom of the trees again. I was starting to get tired of swimming everywhere. I was cold and being wet didn't make it any better. I bet that Crystal and Gammic loved having the high water. It would've been like their home back in District 4. I wonder if that's how it feels to be in ocean water. "Attention," I hear a voice come over the arena. "You are the remaining 3 tributes, and for your bravery we have set a dinner in your honor at the cornucopia. It'll be set at sunset, so be ready." The voice goes away. I forgot that they usually make a dinner for the final tributes. I should probably get going.

I have my axe in my belt, and the boomerang in my hand. I see that it came with a note. "Use this wisely, I learned how to use it, now you do." Destinique is stupid. Just because she won when a boomerrang went in the wrong direction doesn't mean that she knew how to use it.

After hours of walking, I arrive to a spot where I can see the golden cornucopia glimmering in the sunlight in the distance. I'm not too far, I can make it before sunset. That's where I can find Cole and kill him. Then there's Martha, but I'd rather run into the swamp and just let the Gamemakers send mutts after me.

When I finally arrive to the forestry around the cornucopia, I ly in wait for the dinner. The sun is near to setting, and I know that this can possibly be my last one, so I take it in. The orange bursts of color mixing with yellows and white. Turning the sky pink and the clouds a smokey pink color. I hear a gong, and I turn back to look at the cornucopia. I see the table set with food rise out of it, and then I hear the voice come back on. "The dinner is set, enjoy!"

I wait for the first person to come out. It takes a long while, I can practically hear the people watching yawning. No matter what, I'm not going to be the first one out there.

_is anyone else besides me even here? _And that's when I see it. A figure running from the other side. I get ready with the boomerang, but when I see who it is, I throw it down. I start running and yelling, "Martha! Martha!"

She turns quickly and I see her drop her spear and run for me too. "Adonis!" She shouts.. We're both running to each other, and I eventually have her back in my arms. I kiss her and she does too. I'm filled with joy.

I don't want to let go of her. "Martha, I was so worried about you!"

"I was too," she said. "When Glamour tried to kill me all I could think about was where you were!" I can tell she's crying.

"Don't worry, I'm never letting you go!" Right when I say this, Martha flie out of my arms. I see Cole and he just hit her in the side with his pick axe. I throw the axe into his side and he goes flying. He's not dead, but he's down for now.

I run to Martha's side, and I pick her up in my arms. "Martha?"

"Adonis, Adonis..."

"No, don't waste your energy," I say and she has a slight laugh.

"There's no point, Adonis, I'm gone. This is it for me."

"No, it's not, Martha. We still have to go home and be together." I tell her. My eyes are welling up just like hers.

"Tell my parents I love them, and then I want you to know that I..." she starts to close her eyes.

"What, Martha!?" I slap her and I yell her name out. The canon fires. "Martha! Don't you dare leave me! Martha!" She's gone, and I'm alone. All I need is for Cole to pay for his crimes. First Cole, then the Capital. I get up and turn to see that Cole is gone. Then I feel the knife enter my back.

I shout and then grab him and toss him over my shoulder. I pull the knife out, butbefore I can bury it in him. He pulls me down to the ground. I throw punches and get him all over, but he has a small knife that he uses to cut me. he stabs me constantly, but it isn't long enough to do serious damage. I can bleed out though. We wrestle and I'm losing. The pain from all the cuts is crippling.

He tops me, and he grabs the knife. "This is for the win!" he shouts and brings the knife down into my chest. I roar out in pain, and except my immenate death. I can see that his kinfe also bursted the little glass ball around my neck. The sand lands all over my face, and I can smell it. It smells horrible. I can no longer feel the pain in my chest any more. I might still have a chance.

I start flailing and then the look on Cole's face changes. It goes from triumph to fear. I push him off of me, and get on top of him. I start punching him, and we eventually start rolling around on the floor. He gets back on top of me, but this time before he gets the knife in my heart, I pull him down by his collar.

I don't know what came over me, but I grabbed his head in place, and sank my teeth in his neck. He starts screaming louder and in more pain then I've ever heard in my whole time in the arena. I keep biting and I can feel the blood rushing onto my face as if I had bit into the juciest grape ever.

I grab his hair and pulls his head back unlodging my teeth from his throat, ripping part of it off. I toss him to the side, and he holds his hands to his throat. The blood goes everywhere. The cannon doesn't fire, so he's going to bleed out. I find some water and watch my face and mouth clean of the blood and sand.

I go to Martha, and see that she's gone cold. She's far gone now. The cannon fires, and the trumpets start to play. I look to the sky when I hear Flynt Ballyntyne announce me as winner. The hovercraft appears in the sky, and I hold on to the ladders and I'm frozen in place.

It takes me up, and when I get there, people in white coats strap me onto a bed and knock me out with gas. I fought at first thinking that they were just trying to kill me.


	18. Chapter 18

"So were you considering letting Martha win?" Rupalia asks me. I'm on the stage at the presentation of the victor after the games.

"Of course, I wasn't. I just let her think I was in love with her, but in actuality, I was going to get my axe in her first chance I did. I mean all's fair in love and war." I tell her, and the crowd seems to accept my plan as if I meant it. I didn't really plan on betraying Martha, I just had to say it. Destinique said that when I kissed Martha, a lot of the people didn't like it because it was in bad taste. The Capital had just seperated two lovers, that was grounds for rebellion. Of course what Crystal and I said was also a risk of starting one, but they were able to cut us off apparently. Not me entirely since they didn't see it coming.

"You just won. You've proven your ferocity, do you think people back home will be scared of you?"

"Yes, but hey, they're going to have to love me, I did get them food."

"What do you think your brother, X, would say about your performance in the games?" The audience loves the question.

"I think even he would be a little scared of me!" I laugh and so does the crowd. "Maybe a little jealous because I got a higher score than him too, but I wouldn't worry much about my brother."

"Yes, next year, you'll be taking position as mentor, do you look forward to that?"

"Rupalia, I don't look to the future or much on the past, I'd rather stay in the now. I'm not going to lie, it was fun being in the arena, so I'll miss that."

"Rumors speculate that you were trained before the games, is that true?"

"No, it was just something we said to make us look better. We had no extra training." The interview further goes like this until the program ends. The next morning, I'm sent on the train.

On the train, I sit in the dining cart, where I first met Martha. I sit alone, motionless. Everyone is in their room, no one is watching. I wipe some of the tears from my eyes, and realize that Martha will no longer be seen. She's no longer going to help her mother in the shop, she's no longer going to brighten up the days of those who loved her, and I'm no longer going to see her. I barely even got to see her.

She's gone.

I hate myself for even pretending that I didn't love her, because I really did. But now I return to my life in District 2. I look out the window and see that we're arriving at the Justice building. The door opens, and Marina and Destinique escort me off the train and in front of the crowd that chants my name. I can see my father with Aries and Hanna. She's still beautiful, but just finishing with Martha, I have no feeling for her. Right behind my fater, I see someone unfamiliar. I'm guessing it's X. I'm guided from the train to Victor's Village, and then put into my new home.

Inside the house I see a tall man in a black suit. "Please come this way," he says.

I follow him to a room, and the person inside the room looks very familiar. "Please sit down, Adonis." The man says. I do as he says. "You said you were trained before the games. We took this to be true, so we came and executed anyone suspected of training children to win the games. Here and in District 1. Then you said that you really weren't trained. Well, now we look stupid for doing that, and we don't like being made fools of. Now no matter who asks you, you are a career. You have always been trained by these people," he slides me a paper with a list of names. "You complie with these rules, and everyone you love stays safe. Oh, and if anyone asks about Martha, you were going to kill her the same way you killed Cole, okay? Is this understood, Adonis?" He says it more sternly.

"Yes, President Scar." I say with noticable hatred.

End of Part 1


End file.
